The decision to attempt even more expansion of gambling in St. Clair County took only seconds following Circuit Judge Charles E. Robinson’s March 30 ruling that electronic bingo gambling is legal in Ashville.
While Ashville was the city of focus for the ruling, the town of Argo was ready to move as soon as the ruling was released.
Argo Mayor Paul Jennings said electronic bingo would be a strong revenue source for the town and, at press time, planned to present an ordinance similar to the one in Ashville during the Argo Town Council meeting April 6.
Days before Robinson’s ruling, the town clerk’s office reported that the mayor was waiting to see how the ruling went before presenting the ordinance to the Argo Town Council.
A second reading of the ordinance is required before a vote can be taken and Jennings said in other media reports that he planned to call a special meeting April 7 for the second reading and vote.
It has also been reported that Mississippi businessman John McCleod who is ready to open a 15-acre electronic bingo gambling complex in Argo will write the town a check for $250,000 if it votes to allow the expansion of gambling in its area April 7.
McCleod has also promised to give $1 million per year in business license fees plus $50,000 to town charities monthly from his proposed 2,500 machines.
But Argo resident Phillip Nelson believes this type of contribution is problematic not only because the businessman stands to earn much more than he said he would give Argo, but also because of the amount he plans to give the town.
With Argo having an annual budget of about $600,000, “he would control the town by monetary influence alone,” said Nelson, a deacon at First Baptist Church, Pinson, in Birmingham Baptist Association. “Normal people would lose their influence to city government. Priority would be given to the person creating the most wealth.”
Nelson also said McCleod was in Argo March 30 looking at property.
“Mr. McCleod claims he simply wants to help Argo, but we must remember he is using the town’s current financial condition to try to bring something in that most people would never agree with given more prosperous times,” he said. “It’s all about profit to him.”
And “despite what the mayor says, he cannot limit electronic bingo to only one operation in our town,” Nelson added. “Argo would effectively become a bingo mecca as no doubt other establishments would soon follow.”
Back in Ashville, Mayor Robert McKay said he wished Jennings well in his endeavor, but he was afraid it would not be an easy win.
“He has three council members adamantly against it,” McKay said. “My council was 100 percent for this.
“We want the benefits from it,” he explained. “It will bring millions of dollars into this community. … We are trying to put people to work around here.”
But McKay said he is “not stupid” and won’t put in any machines until “the legality issues are done and we have protection on our side.”
“I’m going to do what our attorney (William Trussell) says we can and can’t do,” he said. “At this point, there is not one piece of electronic bingo equipment in our building.”
And while Shooting Star Entertainment Group LLC has an approved permit for electronic bingo gambling as well as a contract on 75 acres of land just off I-59, it has not broken ground yet on its proposed facility, McKay noted.
“It is stupid for anyone to go and spend millions of dollars on property before going through the legal aspects of this,” he said, noting there will likely be an appeals process.
McKay did confirm that Shooting Star is the only gambling business currently with a permit to build a “gaming facility” and American Legion Post 170 is the only charity with an approved permit to play bingo of any kind in a “gaming facility.”
But he admitted others would be able to obtain a permit “if they meet the criteria of the ordinance (allowing electronic bingo gambling machines to be played in the city).”
Still “until we get through legal hearings here that are necessary, we are not going to discuss further permitting of any kind of bingo,” McKay said. “It would be stupid for us to start handing out permits.
“We said all along that we are not going to create another Walker County,” he added. “Walker County is a fiasco of a mess up and down the streets. If we are lucky enough to get this same thing through the system, you will not see metal buildings and everyone renting everything they can up and down the street.”
McKay added that while he is pleased with Robinson’s ruling, he does understand why the ministers in the county would be against it due to the moral issue.
“They weren’t for bingo when it was first approved in 1992 either,” he said.
“I’m a Christian. I love God and God has been good to me and mine,” McKay said. “But this is an economic issue for the city of Ashville. The city can prosper. … If it’s legal in all these other counties, it’s legal here. … This is a pie in the sky for us.”
James Sampley, pastor of First Baptist Church, Ashville, is one of those ministers McKay referred to as being opposed to electronic bingo gambling.
“I’m greatly disappointed but not surprised,” he said. “I suspected that would be the case. Our church members have been severely disappointed and a little bit discouraged but they are not willing to give up.
“I think the next step will be the Court of Civil Appeals,” Sampley noted. “However the ruling goes, it will eventually be appealed by the Supreme Court. That’s an excellent thing because I think the Supreme Court will rule in our favor.”
Joe Godfrey, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program, is also hopeful for a Supreme Court ruling “so we can get a definite answer to the illegality of these bingo slots.”
The Ashville ruling, which was filed March 30, states the machines proposed for use at the Ashville American Legion are “in compliance with [State] Amendment No. 542 and Ordinance No. 2008-0011 of the City of Ashville.” (Visit www.thealabamabaptist.org to read the full ordinance and the ruling from Robinson.)
But that’s what Gary L. Willford Jr., who represents St. Clair County Sheriff Terry Surles and St. Clair County District Attorney Richard Minor, says is wrong with the ruling.
“We respect Judge Robinson but firmly disagree with [the ruling],” Willford said.
“We believe he is incorrect as a matter of law on all issues of the case. Primarily … the part that authorizes electronic bingo, which was described in the hearing as session bingo.
“They don’t have the authority to expand it beyond the narrow exception (that currently exists),” he added.
Minor agreed.
“Although I respect Judge Robinson’s decision, we disagree as to the issue of whether electronic bingo is authorized by the laws of the state of Alabama and the constitutional amendment pertaining to St. Clair County,” he said.
While expert witness Robert Sertell’s testimony that bingo can be legal when played electronically is being used as part of the reasoning in this case, Minor explained that Sertell was describing true, traditional bingo played on a screen rather than on a paper card.
Willford filed a notice of appeal and a motion to stay (which would leave things as they are until a final ruling takes place) April 2. He said both sides are currently waiting on the official transcript to be finalized, even though they do have copies of Sertell’s testimony in hand already.
An attorney in the White Hall case (visit www.thealabamabaptist.org to read the latest on this case) used Sertell’s testimony from the St. Clair case before the official transcript was finalized, but it could not be confirmed before press time how that part of the transcript found its way to the White Hall hearing.
“We are asking for an oral argument before the Supreme Court,” Willford said. “It is up to them, but I would think that a case of this magnitude, they would want to hear it.”
He also noted that the St. Clair case could be “the” case the Governor’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling is seeking to make the official and final decision on electronic bingo gambling in the state. (Visit www.thealabamabaptist.org to read more about the task force.)
This case is moving toward the appeals process, while a case out of Etowah ruling electronic “bingo” legal has also been appealed.
The Bessemer case from 2008 where Jefferson County Circuit Judge Eugene Verin ruled electronic machines in Bessemer as illegal was not appealed, and the White Hall case has no final ruling.
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