The year was 1999. The place was South Carolina. Video poker machines had invaded the state. The machines — 34,000 total — could be found in practically every gas station, as well as every mom and pop business.
And it was big business. Figures showed the video poker machines took in $2.8 billion annually. Little of it stayed in South Carolina. Most went to the machine manufacturers and major gambling organizations that placed the machines in the state.
South Carolinians were upset. A survey showed most opposed the way these “slot machines” had invaded their state. In October of that year, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled the video poker machines violated the state constitution and ordered the machines moved or destroyed. Almost overnight, the machines vanished. The crisis was over.
Fast-forward 10 years. Now it is 2009 and the place is Alabama. Electronic bingo gambling has invaded many areas of the state. Electronic bingo gambling halls have popped up all over most of the 18 areas (16 counties and two cities) where traditional bingo is legal. Sometimes the gambling dens are lined up next to each other. Some places envision huge gambling establishments with thousands of machines. The machines have all the trappings of slot machines. It is high-stakes gambling. It is not traditional bingo.
Some elected officials trip over themselves chasing the clink of the coins the machine manufacturers trade in return for ripping off local communities. Testimony before Jefferson County Circuit Judge Robert Vance revealed electronic bingo gambling in Walker County reached about $2 billion annually. Charities got a minuscule part of the take.
One only had to watch the late-night caravan of dark sport utility vehicles roll into a regional airport near Walker County in the wee hours of each day where a small plane was loaded with cash and sent to out-of-state destinations to know this was not small potatoes. Major players are ripping off big money with their electronic gambling machines.
But Nov. 13, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled. The court set forth a six-part definition of bingo that no electronic bingo gambling machine currently in Alabama can meet. The decision came just two weeks after Vance and Jefferson County Circuit Judge Scott Vowell issued similar verdicts in separate local electronic bingo gambling cases.
Alabama’s Supreme Court declared the electronic bingo gambling machines in White Hall “operate almost exactly like slot machines” and are not playing the game of bingo. These machines are similar to, and some even exactly the same as, others around the state.
In an interview with The Alabama Baptist, Gov. Bob Riley, an opponent of electronic bingo gambling, said, “I think the Supreme Court ruling was just ‘spot on’ to what we had been saying. This is not bingo and never has been and never will be. I think they (the Supreme Court) laid out the guidelines that now indicate we really do need to close these (electronic gambling halls) down once and for all.”
Like a decade ago in South Carolina, one would expect the gambling parlors to close and the crisis to pass. Don’t count on it.
Alabama Attorney General Troy King wrote Riley, declaring, “Contrary to your public statements, this ruling does not make electronic bingo illegal per se. … Instead experts will still have to engage in the task of determining whether each particular machine meets the six-part test” put in place by the Supreme Court. In a letter to the state’s district attorneys, King wrote he expects “substantial new litigation across the state” and said the “court did not expressly address the issue of electronic bingo.”
King sounds like the mouthpiece for the gambling crowd in Alabama. His apparent conversion from gambling opponent when he was appointed to the office to gambling advocate after he was elected is one of the stranger stories in Alabama politics. King’s actions seem like a stalling tactic. They buy more time for gamblers to continue ripping off Alabama citizens.
Riley is correct. It is time for electronic bingo gambling to be closed down across Alabama. The Supreme Court has established the criteria for bingo, and it is time for the law of the land to be applied by the district attorneys. The Supreme Court decision dealing with White Hall applies to VictoryLand in Macon County, Country Crossing in Houston County, the gambling parlors in Bessemer and every other place electronic bingo gambling can be found.
Alabama Baptists, as concerned citizens, need to encourage their elected officials to obey the law and close down these places once and for all.
But “once and for all” may be difficult. Like a wounded animal, the gambling crowd will fight for its life by trying to change Alabama law to permit its vice. Pressure on state legislators will be greater than ever. Anticipate large campaign contributions to those willing to call for a “vote by the people” on electronic bingo gambling. That is the only way the gamblers can stay in business.
Riley correctly pointed out that it is only those people supporting gambling who call for a general referendum. The people of Alabama have opposed gambling for more than 100 years. That is why it was included in the 1901 state constitution. We have opposed it on every vote since and we still oppose it. Only those who want to make what is illegal today (gambling) legal tomorrow (slot machine-style electronic gambling labeled “bingo”) even parrot the gambling crowd’s line.
Baptists do not have the money to spread around that the gambling crowd has. We do not have the paid lobbyists or all the perks to give officials. But we do have the votes. Every state representative and senator needs to hear clearly that the Baptists of his or her district oppose changing the state law on gambling and the wasteful effort of another statewide vote on gambling.
More than that, Baptists need to get a commitment from every state representative (334-242-7600) and senator (334-242-7800) to oppose efforts to change the state law on gambling or call a statewide referendum.
If concerned citizens can stop gambling now — through enforcement of the recent Supreme Court decision and in the state Legislature — then maybe the gambling crowd will move out of Alabama as it moved out of South Carolina.
May God make it so!
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