For the moment, electronic bingo gambling machines could operate in St. Clair County if a gambling operation has a business license and bingo permit from the county. But tomorrow that might not be the case, and that’s why Ashville Mayor Robert McKay said he will not bring any machines into the American Legion Post 170 until the electronic bingo gambling case is officially decided.
“We are in wait mode,” McKay said at press time. “There are no machines going in at this point. … We don’t want to embarrass our city, our county, our sheriff.
“They’ve asked Montgomery (Alabama Supreme Court) to look into it, and we are going to wait and see,” he said.
Circuit Judge Charles E. Robinson denied Sheriff Terry Surles’ and District Attorney Richard Minor’s request for a stay, which would have prevented machines from coming into the county until the appeal was heard by the Supreme Court.
In nearby Argo, the matter remains unsettled as well, even though the nonbinding vote of the people about electronic gambling concluded that the town should not consider this as an option.
Roadhouse Gaming Systems LLC requested, was provided with and has turned in a business license application for operation in Argo. The business owner has threatened to build just outside the town limits if it is not allowed inside the town limits.
But without a bingo permit from Surles, Roadhouse can’t operate anywhere in the county, and Surles has said he is not handing out any new permits until the case is settled.
For updated reports on ‘bingo,’ visit www.thealabamabaptist.org.
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