Birmingham District Attorney for Jefferson County Brandon Falls is giving electronic bingo gambling “casinos” until Oct. 31 to “cease operations, pack up and leave Jefferson County” or face “immediate legal action.”
At a press conference Oct. 21, Falls said he believes about 30 electronic bingo gambling establishments currently operating in Jefferson County violate the Alabama Code and constitutional amendment allowing charity bingo in the area.
“They are operating a for-profit business,” Falls said. “In other words, they are paying expenses, paying salaries. They are hiring someone else to run the bingo operations. It is not done by the charity.”
Citing Judge Lynwood Smith’s recent ruling against a bingo operation in Madison County that was run by an entity other than a charity, Falls said Jefferson County electronic bingo gambling facilities operating in the same manner are also illegal since bingo amendments in Madison and Jefferson counties are “virtually identical.”
Falls said he does not believe any electronic bingo gambling facility in the county is operating legally.
“Bingo is gambling,” Falls said. “There is a very narrow exception made for bingo (in Alabama) … allowing it to be played strictly for charitable purposes and run by a charity. … Now that we have this case that backs us up, we are able to say this very small exception is being violated and folks are trying to make a profit on it and that’s not legal bingo and that’s not legal in Jefferson County.”
Falls said he can understand that many Jefferson County municipalities are “hurting financially” but “illegal bingo” is not the way to make money.
“For these cities to look to bingo as a cure-all for all their ills is going down the wrong path. … What’s going on here is illegal activity, and to attempt to profit from it to make money for your city is to ignore the law.”
For more information on the status of electronic bingo gambling in Alabama, see page 15. Related stories are archived at www.thealabamabaptist.org. (TAB)
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