Opinion

Opinion: Electronic bingo controversy just won't die in Alabama

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

"In the past week, the charity bingo issue has raised it ugly electronic head, again. It'll be interesting to see how Gov. Robert Bentley and Attorney General Luther Strange handle the latest events.

First, Greenetrack last Friday started opening for electronic bingo again. Supposedly, it's a new kind of electronic bingo, but people were lined up to play.

Then, in a strange ruling, Bessemer-Cutoff Circuit Judge Eugene Verin said charity bingo can operate in the Bessemer area as long as Alabama allows bingo operations to continue at Greenetrack. Verin said if bingo at Greenetrack is shut down, bingo in the Bessemer division of Jefferson County must be shut down within seven days. What one has to do with the other, who knows?

Then this: The federal agency that oversees Indian gambling has told Attorney General Luther Strange that electronic bingo is allowed on Poarch Creek lands. Strange had requested that the slot machine bingo machines be banned. The National Indian Gaming Commission said nope, can't touch the Poarch Creek operations as long as paper bingo is allowed in the state."

Get the Story:
JOEY KENNEDY: Electronic bingo just won't go off into the quiet night (The Birmingham News 3/22)

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