Race course ‘sweepstakes’ allowed to stay

The Quincy’s Sweepstakes electronic video gambling taking place at the Birmingham Race Course is legal, according to Circuit Judge Scott Vowell, but it is also a “sham.”
   
In his 17-page opinion released Jan. 31, Vowell said, “It is clear that the Sweepstakes promotion is not what it appears to be; it appears to be a lottery, but it is not; it appears to be gambling, but it is not; the Readers appear to be slot machines, but they are not. So the court agrees with the Sheriff that in this sense the promotion is a sham.”
   
Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale went after the Quincy Sweepstakes machines in mid-December 2005 when it was discovered that Milton McGregor had debuted hundreds of machines at the Birmingham course, which he owns along with VictoryLand racetrack in Shorter.
   
Marketing his Birmingham track as “casino-like,” the machines, resembling slot machines, were deemed sweepstakes machines.
   
But Hale said McGregor is taking an obscure sweepstakes law and trying to build a bridge from it. “He is trying to make something legal that is not legal,” Hale said.
   
Vowell wrote in his opinion, “The operation looks and sounds like a gambling casino, but under Alabama law it is not.
   
“The evidence convinces the court that through careful planning [they] have found a loophole in the patchwork of Alabama’s anti-gambling laws and they have taken advantage of that loophole. … [They] have taken advantage of weaknesses in the law,” he wrote, noting that “perhaps the Alabama Legislature” will deal with the loophole.
   
Dan Ireland, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program, said, “I hope we can pick up on Judge Vowell’s challenge to clarify the law and get something done.”
   
David Ford, a spokesperson for Gov. Bob Riley, confirmed that Riley is working with the Attorney General Troy King and others to submit legislation by mid-February that would address this and other loopholes.
   
“The governor was disappointed with the ruling,” Foster said. “However, it points to a call he made in his State of the State address for the Legislature to take action to address this very issue.”