The Alabama Supreme Court unanimously upheld state Attorney General Luther Strange’s July 25, 2012 raid on Center Stage gambling hall near Dothan, where state police seized 691 electronic bingo machines and 8,657 in cash. The justices ruled bingo games allowed in certain counties traditionally involve players using paper cards, numbers being drawn and a win being announced. “This ruling from the highest court in our state once again confirms that so-called ‘electronic bingo’ is illegal under state law,” Strange said.
The Houston County Economic Development Authority, which operated Center Stage, challenged the raid, claiming the machines were a legal form of bingo. A Houston County judge declared the machines were illegal and said the state could destroy the games and keep the cash. The state supreme court affirmed that decision, basing its decision on an earlier case that upheld a 2009 raid at a Lowndes County casino.
The justices said bingo, where it is not allowed in certain counties by constitutional amendments, is a form of a lottery, which is prohibited under the Alabama Constitution. The games at Center Stage featured an electronic depiction of a bingo card.
The judges added legal bingo requires an announcer who must call the numbers one at a time and allow time between each number for a player to physically mark the card. “In accordance with the foregoing we reiterate today that the game traditionally known as bingo is not one played by or within an electronic or computerized machine, terminal, or server, but is one played outside of machines and electronic circuitry. It is a group activity, and one that requires a meaningful measure of human interaction and skill,” the justices said. They added expert testimony was not necessary to determine the legality of the games.
Dothan attorney Ernie Hornsby, representing the Houston County Economic Development Authority, said the Supreme Court’s ruling was “extremely disappointing.” He said Houston County was the only county with bingo where a judge validated the bonds used to build the gambling complex, and the validation was clear that bingo machines would be used to help pay off the bonds. However, the justices said just because the bonds were validated, that did not determine the machines were legal.
Another Alabama casino that was raided and has not reopen is VictoryLand in Shorter. At one time the state’s largest casino, it was raided in 2013. In September a Montgomery County judge held a trial to determine if the state could keep the games and cash taken by police, but he has not yet issued a ruling. Assistant Attorney General John Kachelman, said the judge could consider the Center Stage ruling.
