Video-Based Bingo May Not Really Be 'Bingo,' Says Southern AG
by Allie Martin and Jody Brown
December 9, 2004
(AgapePress) - The president of the Christian Coalition of Alabama says he is not surprised at the recent revelation by that state's attorney general that some gambling facilities in the state are operating illegally.Last week Alabama Attorney General Troy King unveiled results of a recent investigation into gambling in the Yellowhammer State. Noting his personal opposition to gambling -- "I do believe that gambling preys upon the desperate and the hopeless," he stated -- King said the "patchwork of complex laws" governing gambling in the state has made enforcement of those statutes "challenging" for him and his staff.
Now having completed what King calls "the most exhaustive review of gambling within the borders of Alabama," the attorney general reported that he found some legal facilities are hosting illegal video gambling machines -- specifically, video bingo consoles that fall outside the legal definition of the game of bingo.
King outlined the criteria necessary for those consoles to be considered truly "bingo," including linkage among the machines so that individuals are playing against each other and not against the house. "Play of these machines should be discontinued and they should be reprogrammed or replaced" to be in compliance with that definition, the AG stated. He also assured the state of his intent to enforce the law and bring a stop to any illegal gambling activities.
John Giles, president of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, says the AG's actions are a good first step in setting boundaries for the gambling industry.
"The word and the definition of bingo in Alabama and on our codebooks is just so fuzzy," Giles says, "so the Attorney General wanted to establish his interpretation of the law in an opinion of what bingo is. Now he will enforce that opinion -- and that's where it's going to give grief to some of these gambling interests because they've been able to operate however they wanted."
According to Giles, the current leadership in Alabama is weak on gambling. He argues his case.
"Eighty percent of Alabamians want to pass a marriage amendment," he notes. "But yet gambling gets to the top of the agenda in every legislative session. And we were trying to pass the marriage amendment in a special session here just a few weeks ago, yet a gambling bill came out of the Senate."
That bill, he says, died in the House -- "but the legislative leadership seems to be at the mercy of the gambling interests and not following the will of the people," he adds.
Perhaps Attorney General King will not be so susceptible to the gambling lobby. In announcing his findings about the gambling industry, he stated that as long as he is the AG, his office will operate in adherence to one standard -- the law. "I took an oath and pledged to the people of Alabama that I would be true to the law," he said. "That is what I have done in this case."
