Congratulations to Baptists and other Christians in Walker County and Houston County for standing up for moral values in their respective communities. Both counties have been impacted by electronic gambling that threatens to drastically change the nature of both communities for the worse if left unchecked. (Visit www.thealabamabaptist.org for stories on electronic gambling in these counties.)
The threats reflect opposite ends of the gambling situation. In Walker County, electronic gambling machines dot the landscape in several buildings — some small, some large. In Houston County, the danger is one megagambling site with more than 1,500 machines under one roof and the potential for many megagambling sites to follow.
The fight against electronic gambling is not new in Alabama. Shortly after the South Carolina courts ruled electronic gambling devices illegal in that state in the 1990s, the gambling interests relocated thousands of electronic gambling machines to Alabama. Only persistent efforts by county prosecutors and sheriffs finally closed down the vast majority of the machines. The process was slow and the legality of the machines has continued to be debated for years. Even a December 2006 Alabama Supreme Court ruling about one specific type of machine being illegal has not slowed down the effort to expand electronic gambling in our state.
And the machines seem to appear, disappear and reappear in the same counties and different counties, sometimes just moving to a new location while the governing authorities of that area attempt to decide how to handle the situation and lawsuits pile up one over the other.
With the recent influx of electronic gambling machines in Walker County, officials first said they did not know if they had jurisdiction to act. But the constitutional amendment allowing a form of charity bingo (gambling) in the county states they do have the authority to determine the rules and regulations. And as they hesitated, more gambling facilities opened.
Eventually Walker County commissioners decided they had authority to regulate and levied a $50 permit fee on each machine at first and then increased it to $500. That sounds steep until one realizes each machine takes in an average of $150 a day. That is money taken out of the pockets of the citizens of the county. That is money not spent for groceries or clothes or utility bills. That is money taken from the county, not spent in the county or reinvested in the county.
Recently it was reported that the county could make as much as $1 million in license fees for the existing machines. Perhaps that explains the commissioners’ hesitancy to follow the lead of the Jasper City Council and ban the devices that have been called "the crack cocaine of gambling." When government becomes addicted to gambling money, it is hard for decision makers to act responsibly.
Recently Walker County’s Concerned Citizens for Christian Morality — a group led by Jamie Lay, pastor of Oakman Central Baptist Church, Oakman — launched a more aggressive effort against gambling. While the group has been working for almost a year now, this move is the first well-
organized effort by the citizens of Walker County to end the blight of electronic gambling. Baptists and other Christians are trying to save their county from being taken over by gambling.
It will take a concentrated effort by this organization to save its county. Every Alabama Baptist should make the work of this group a regular matter of prayer.
The Houston County story is quite different. County officials publicly declare, "We don’t want to be another Walker County." Their answer is the megacasino approach. While saying it would prevent small operations, regulations recently adopted by the Houston County Commission would endorse large-scale gambling facilities beyond Country Crossing, a proposed entertainment center.
Until recently, electronic bingo (gambling) — another name for slot machines — was not a part of the proposal to build Country Crossing. Now electronic gambling is called essential to the venture’s success.
Country Crossing will be a venue for country music, which backers compare to Branson, Mo. But Country Crossing was originally scheduled to be built in Enterprise in Coffee County and electronic gambling was not a part of the proposal. A few weeks ago developers said they had to move from Enterprise because of problems with "infrastructure for the project."
Interestingly when the Country Crossing development proposal arrived in Houston County, developers said electronic gambling is absolutely necessary to get financing for the venture. No one has ever explained why the country music project was viable in Enterprise without gambling but cannot succeed in Houston County without gambling.
Again the gambling crowd has offered "pieces of silver" to sooth the consciences of those who object to gambling. Country Crossing developers have promised a minimum of $2 million a year for charitable causes.
It was the Englishman William Wilberforce who observed that the English salved their consciences about participation in the slave trade with "a few pieces of silver." Evidently riches still have the ability to mask moral evil.
Even though county commissioners say they "do not want to be like Walker County," the newly adopted stipulations for gambling are nothing short of an invitation for every major gambling corporation in the nation to build megacasino facilities in their county. Then where will Houston County be?
Again Baptists are taking the lead in opposing electronic gambling. Columbia Baptist Association Director of Missions Jerry Grandstaff (who serves the Houston County area) is careful to point out that Baptists support economic development like Country Crossing but oppose electronic gambling.
If the project could succeed in Enterprise without gambling, why is it necessary in Houston County, Grandstaff asks. He also points out that Branson, Mo., does not have gambling and that gambling is not part of a family-friendly atmosphere, which the developers claim to want.
Houston County Baptists and other Christians have been encouraged to contact county commissioners and local legislators, expressing their opposition to electronic gambling. In addition, churches will observe Sunday, March 30, as a day of prayer for Houston County. We certainly pray they will be successful in stopping the spread of electronic gambling in their community.
Whether either group succeeds, both deserve the appreciation of all Alabama Baptists for standing against the moral evil and social disease of electronic gambling.
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