Fully automated ‘electronic bingo’ machines ‘not permissible’

In a letter to state senators and representatives dated Oct. 30, 2009, dealing with “electronic bingo” and Alabama’s Indian reservations, Gov. Bob Riley explained his understanding of the law. Excerpts from that letter follow.

• “According to the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) — the federal agency responsible for interpreting and enforcing Indian gaming law — fully automated ‘electronic bingo’ machines are not permissible Class II bingo games, but Class III slot machines, which ordinarily require a state-tribe compact.”
• “We have been informed that the only reason the federal government is allowing Indian casinos in Alabama to run Class III ‘electronic bingo’ slot machines today is because the same form of gambling is going on — and has been tolerated for years — at non-Indian facilities across the state.”
• “In other words, previous failures to enforce the state’s anti-gambling laws has created the mistaken impression in Washington that slot machine gambling of the ‘electronic bingo’ variety is permissible in Alabama. But if we aggressively enforce state law and the Alabama Supreme Court upholds it, the federal government will have no sound basis for continuing to allow Indian casinos to flout the federal law against Class III gambling in Alabama.”
• “Over five years ago, on Oct. 19, 2004, the NIGC informed Attorney General (Troy) King, in writing, that a fully automated electronic ‘bingo’ machine in which a player ‘would insert money into the machine, press the play button and the game would play by itself’ is not bingo under federal law and NIGC guidance. The NIGC explained to Mr. King in very clear terms that ‘[g]ames played in this manner do not meet our understanding of a Class II electronic bingo game. Our advisory opinions have emphasized the need for players to participate in the bingo game by taking further actions to cover the numbers on the cards.’ … An NIGC field investigator had discovered several of these Class III fully automated ‘bingo’ slots … . This letter could and should have been the state’s first clue that the federal government was keenly interested in whether the state would enforce state law against these machines before the NIGC would take any enforcement action against Indian casinos.

“The law explained in the NIGC letter is backed by several official NIGC rulings. For example, as recently as June 2008, NIGC Chairman Phil Hogen denied the Metlakatla Indian Tribe’s application for permission to operate ‘fully electronic, fully automated, multi-player bingo games’ in Alaska.

“Mr. Hogen explained: ‘[T]he gaming equipment performs those functions traditionally performed by the operator, such as drawing the numbers, and those traditionally performed by the players, such as covering numbers called and claiming a prize. I conclude that a game so designed does not meet IGRA’s statutory definition of Class II bingo, does not meet the NIGC’s definition of Class II ‘game similar to bingo,’ and is, in fact, a Class III facsimile of a game of chance [i.e., a slot machine].”

(TAB)