“We want you to be able to go back and explain to your congregations why we think [electronic bingo gambling] is not right,” Gov. Bob Riley told nearly 150 church leaders representing various denominations at a recent interfaith anti-gambling meeting. The crowd gathered March 2 at the Embassy Suites hotel in Montgomery to hear Riley and other state leaders explain Alabama’s current illegal bingo gambling battles.
While gambling opponents in counties across the state fight to keep electronic bingo gambling expansion at bay, the usual legislative fight has revved up in the Statehouse over Senate Bill (SB) 135 and House Bill (HB) 363, identical gambling expansion bills that experts say have statewide implications.
“There is a huge drive to pass a new piece of legislation — we don’t need that,” Riley said. “The gambling forces are marshalling all of their money. … We have the votes in the House and Senate to stop it. But we have to make sure that for the next few weeks that these members remain strong because there is going to be more pressure on these people than you can imagine. We are doing everything that we can.”
According to David Barber, head of the Governor’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling, bingo laws and court rulings against electronic gambling are very clear despite gambling supporters’ best efforts to convince others the laws are filled with loopholes allowing such activity in Alabama.
“Our constitution prohibits a lottery or any scheme in the nature of a lottery,” Barber said. “I’ve been in a couple of these locations and saw machines that had three or five reels just like a slot machine you’d see in Las Vegas. … If that’s not a scheme, I don’t know what you call it. … You can’t put a label on a slot machine, and it becomes a bingo machine.”
Still he said electronic bingo played on machines resembling slot machines has spread “like a cancer” around the state.
“This is the fourth version of this song, folks — the Chuck E. Cheese law, arcades, sweepstakes (and) now the new development is bingo,” Barber said, referring to past attempts to legalize electronic gambling in Alabama. “All the constitutional amendment does is allow local counties to allow bingo to be played … in accordance to the rules that counties set up. …. Gambling interests have taken that word ‘operation’ to mean [they] can play on whatever machine [they] want. That’s how it’s gotten to this point.”
But he and Riley believe the war against illegal bingo gambling can be won as church leaders and their congregations get involved in the fight.
“What we need now is we need your passion,” Riley said. “We need your congregation. We need every one of you to go back and explain this. … This is not a nuance debate. This is a slam-dunk.
“This task force has the capacity to do something about what’s in your community now,” he added. “Ultimately we will have to have a judicial ruling.”
Joe Godfrey, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP), challenged pastors to preach on the subject of gambling.
“Plan a sermon where you lay these things out and let your people know what the Bible says on this issue,” he said.
ALCAP Director Emeritus Dan Ireland has fought against illegal gambling for more than 30 years, calling it “illegal stealing.” He organized and had planned to pay for the March 2 event out of his own pocket, but a Baptist layman provided the funding for it as his way of helping the cause.
“I am thrilled beyond expression the response we have this morning,” Ireland said of the meeting. “My dear friends, it’s high time we get in the pulpit and take a stand. Gambling is a sin. It’s legal thievery. … We need to stop it right where it is.”
He urged attendees to demand a “no” vote from their House or Senate member on SB 135, HB 363 and the BIR (budget isolation resolution), which would allow these bills to be considered before the General Fund and education budgets are passed.
“They are elected by the people back home,” Ireland said. “We need to hold them accountable.”
Sen. Hank Erwin, R-Montevallo, who is fighting the expansion of gambling in the Senate, said, “We are at a crossroads, and if we don’t stand up for our state of Alabama, we are going to lose it, and you men and women are the key” to making a difference.
Riley and his team hope church leaders will help them preserve Alabama’s unique “quality of life.”
“Once we convince you of the legitimacy of what we are saying, you can convince your congregation, and then we hope that every one of you will ask your congregation to do one thing — pick up the phone and make a phone call,” he said.
To contact the Senate, call 334-242-7800. To contact the House, call 334-242-7600.
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