With raids on video gambling machines being operated from two homes in Talladega County, the issue of whether video gambling is legal in Alabama surfaces again.
Talladega County authorities raided two video gambling operations June 28, resulting in six arrests, the confiscation of 61 machines and about $5,000 to $6,000 in cash, according to Talladega Police Chief Alan Watson.
This raid is another example of how the counties interpret the law concerning video gambling differently.
The question of the legality of video gambling stems from a 1996 law, called the “Chuck E. Cheese” law, which allows establishments such as the restaurant chain Chuck E. Cheese and others to issue to children who play and win on their video machines coupons that they can turn in for prizes. Some interests have broadened the interpretation of the law to include video gambling devices for adults.
“The (lower) courts have ruled that these machines are not innocent children’s games, but are indeed big-time gambling machines. They are set and you cannot determine the outcome; they are games of chance,” said Dan Ireland, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP).
Gambling interests have used this law as a basis to operate their video gambling machines, especially after Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor in 2001 said the law did permit video gambling. Pryor said he made the statement solely to challenge the constitutionally of the “Chuck E. Cheese” law, which if declared unconstitutional by the Alabama Supreme Court could eliminate video gambling throughout the state.
A Supreme Court decision
Also bearing significance to the issue is whether the Alabama Supreme Court will hear a gambling machine case originating from the Mobile District Attorney’s office in 1998.
The case, involving the seizure of gambling machines owned by Ted’s Game Enterprises by the Mobile County District Attorney’s office in 1998, won on appeal in the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals in December 2002. The defendant appealed that decision to the Alabama Supreme Court.
The defendants are asking the Supreme Court to grant Certiorari (CERT), which means they are asking them to hear or review their case.
According to a staff lawyer in the clerks’ office of the Alabama Supreme Court, the case, John Tyson (Mobile County DA) vs. Ted’s Game Enterprises, is “under preliminary examination whether to grant future appellate review of the court of civil appeals decision.”
“That is pending. If CERT is denied, that’s it — it’s over and the appellate decision (making video gambling illegal) is final,” said Martha Tierney, assistant DA for Mobile County.
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