The Alabama Supreme Court last week seemed to end the hopes of two Alabama racetracks to restart electronic bingo games that were seized in a raid nearly three years ago in a state raid. The court ruled that the definition of “bingo” in the state constitution did not match the electronic games that were offered by the tracks (and is also offered by the Poarch Band at its casinos in the state). The justices unanimously agreed in a sternly worded statement.
“Today’s decision is the latest, and hopefully the last, chapter in the more than six years’ worth of attempts to defy the Alabama Constitution’s ban on ‘lotteries,’” the justices wrote. “It is the latest, and hopefully the last, chapter in the ongoing saga of attempts to defy the clear and repeated holdings of this court beginning in 2009 that electronic machines like those at issue here are not the ‘bingo’ referenced in local bingo amendments.”
The state had been sued by VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor who wanted all of the 1,600-plus games (and more than $200,000 in cash) returned and restarted. He got a favorable decision in a lower court in 2015, but the Supreme Court slammed the door in reversing that decision.
Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange felt vindicated.
“The Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling is abundantly clear that electronic bingo is illegal and repeated court challenges to the contrary will not change that fact,” Strange said.
The decision comes just as pro-casino forces were banking on a bill before the legislature that they hoped would clarify the legality of commercial gaming in Alabama. Committees in the state Senate and House of Representatives have approved measures to reauthorize machine gaming at the racetracks.
The Senate Economic Development and Tourism Committee endorsed VictoryLand as operator of the same Class II-style of electronic bingo machines operated by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians at its three casinos in the state.
The Greenetrack bill was approved by the same committee in the House. It would authorize a constitutional amendment and create a gaming commission to regulate the business in the track’s host county of Greene and provide for distribution of revenues.
Both votes came in the wake of a letter U.S. Attorney George Beck has written to both Governor Rob Bentley and Attorney General Strange seeking clarification on the legality of Alabama gaming.
Strange signaled earlier in the year that the state would cease legal efforts to drive the VictoryLand and Greenetrack casinos out of business. Beck’s letter, however, says there’s still confusion over differing regulations on gaming machines at casinos run by the Poarch Creek and those on non-tribal land and concerns also over uneven enforcement.
But most observers said the bills would be difficult to pass, even before the Supreme Court decision. Now, most likely, legislators will let the decision speak for the state.
Bentley, meanwhile, is battling an ethics complaint filed by state Auditor Jim Zeigler alleging misuse of state property and a related scandal tied to the governor’s relationship with a senior political advisor, Rebekah Caldwell Mason, with whom it is alleged that the governor is romantically involved, which both Bentley and Mason deny.
