Gambling proponents and opponents alike found themselves in a perpetual state of limbo during 2001 as they each waited for the roll of the dice to fall in their favor regarding the legality of video gambling devices.
Since 1996 Alabama has been infested with video gambling arcades, which climaxed to around 50,000 during 2001.
An unexpected opinion was given April 24 by four Alabama State Supreme Court justices who stated that video gambling machines were in violation of Alabama’s 1901 constitutional ban on lotteries.
This opinion was trumpeted across the state as a victory by gambling opponents who gleefully watched as a half-dozen county district attorneys banned the machines from their jurisdictions.
In August the wheel of fortune turned yet again, this time in the direction of the disgruntled arcade owners. Within a month following the district attorneys’ exile of the gambling devices, Attorney General Bill Pryor played what his critics considered to be a trump card when he testified in a court case that the video arcade machines were legal under the state’s current law. Arousing instant criticism, he immediately called a press conference in Birmingham defending his actions. He stated he took his course of action to be able to challenge the constitutionality of the controversial law later.
Pryor received scathing criticism from gambling opponents who felt his opinion was lethal for their cause. His popularity, however, soared with gambling proponents as well as arcade owners who overnight reopened their businesses.
Like Jefferson County’s District Attorney (DA) David Barber, many of the district attorneys who had banned the machines from their counties acquiesced to the return of the devices. But a few of them, such as Baldwin County DA David Whetstone, stood their ground and did not allow arcades to reopen in their jurisdictions.
In addition to the video gambling saga, the final months of 2001 saw yet another game of chance infiltrate the state — but this time with cash payouts.
Atmore’s Poarch Creek Indians, who have operated a bingo hall on their reservation since 1986, made headway into Elmore County when they opened a bingo hall in Wetumpka. But bingo was not present, only video gambling devices with cash winnings.
The Thanksgiving weekend opening drew a crowd of close to 2,000 who stood in line for hours for the opportunity to play on the 150 bingo arcade machines.
Poarch Creek tribal chairman Eddie Tullis told the news media that the tribe’s long- range plan is to have full-blown gambling casinos at all of their locations in Alabama.
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