State Supreme Court defines bingo
Yet another court decision on bingo has opposing camps claiming victory.
In the process of ruling in favor of Governor Bob Riley’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling, the Alabama Supreme Court defined bingo Friday, giving the game a 6-pronged test that calls for active player participation, up to and including announcing ‘bingo!’ to other players.
In a 6-3 decision, the court struck down a preliminary injunction that kept the Governor’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling from conducting another raid on White Hall Resort and Entertainment Center, 20 miles west of Montgomery.
The court did not make a final determination on the legality of electronic bingo throughout Alabama, but the majority of the justices questioned the legality of the games used in White Hall.
Riley said although the ruling doesn’t spell out a ban on electronic bingo, the 59-page ruling leaves no wiggle room.
“This ruling from the Supreme Court makes clear all these so-called electronic bingo machines in Alabama are illegal and it’s time for them to go,” Riley said.
However, Country Crossing spokesperson Jay Walker said the bingo machines at the new development would meet the new legal definition.
“It’s evident that Gov. Riley’s statement was another opportunity for him to cry wolf,” Walker said. “It’s pathetic and ridiculous to look at the Supreme Court opinion from today and discern that bingo and electronic bingo is illegal in the state of Alabama. Today was a good day for Country Crossing. The Supreme Court has defined bingo. We’re going to follow the six steps, those guidleines, be above board, transparent, legal, and we’re opening in December.”
Houston County Commission Chairman Mark Culver agreed with Walker’s interpretation of the ruling and levied some criticism at Riley’s office.
“As we have stated from day one, bingo in Houston County will abide by the law of the state and the regulations of the county commission,” Culver said. “It is concerning, however, that the governor’s office continues to take joy in the potential loss of thousands of Alabama jobs at a time when our state has the 10th highest unemployment rate in the country. Instead of gloating over what they misinterpret as the elimination of bingo that could cost charities in the state millions of dollars, our state leaders need to show the resolve to legislatively fix and regulate this industry for the benefit of all Alabama citizens.”
According to the Supreme Court ruling, the characteristics of bingo include the following:
1. Each player uses one or more cards with spaces arranged in five columns and five rows, with an alphanumeric or similar designation assigned to each space.
2. Alphanumeric or similar designations are randomly drawn and announced one by one.
3. In order to play, each player must pay attention to the values announced; if one of the values matches a value on one or more of the player’s cards, the player must physically act by marking his or her card accordingly.
4. A player can fail to pay proper attention or to properly mark his or her card, and thereby miss an opportunity to be declared a winner.
5. A player must recognize that his or her card has a ‘bingo,’ i.e., a predetermined pattern of matching values, and in turn announce to the other players and the announcer that this is the case before any other player does so.
6. The game of bingo contemplates a group activity in which multiple players compete against each other to be the first to properly mark a card with the predetermined winning pattern and announce that fact.”
Writing for the court’s majority, Justice Glen Murdock said White Hall failed to demonstrate that it had a reasonable likelihood of showing that seized machines “constituted the game of bingo.”
Murdock wrote that testimony in the case indicates “the machines operate almost exactly like slot machines,” which are illegal in Alabama.
The case now goes back to Lowndes County Circuit Court for more arguments about the raid.
Dissenting Friday were Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb and Justices Tom Woodall and Champ Lyons.
Greg Phillips contributed to this story.
Reader Reactions
For the individual asking how bingo is considered gambling…when you play bingo you buy into the game buy purchasing a card, then mark the numbers when they are called and hope that you call bingo before anyone else does. If you get a bingo, you win. In other words, you are placing a bet (whether it is monetary, a physical item or a promised action does not matter) in the hopes of winning a prize, whether it be a dinner or a monetary reward or what have you. Same goes for any game of chance such as raffle tickets or poker runs. You buy a ticket in the hopes of winning something worth more than what you originally invested. Whether the proceeds go to charity or to line a businessmans pocket really doesn’t matter. Gambling is gambling, whether it’s for charity or to support your local school or if it’s simply for sheer entertainment value. It’s all gambling. If you place a bet with your neighbor concerning which team will win Friday night football, you are gambling. If you have friends over and play go-fish and the person that wins the most hands receives a prize…you are gambling. It does not matter if it’s between friends, if it’s to benefit a good cause, or if someone is making a profit from it. The game is what matters. It’s gambling…plain and simple. If I want to go to the local church and play bingo all night long, no one would complain that I lost my family’s grocery money to the church, because it went to a good cause. In fact…every church I have ever been to has requested money…to the point of telling us to “give until it hurts”. I guess it’s ok if my child does without because I gave all our money to the church, but I’m going straight to he77 if I sit down at a slot machine and win $200.
No one was arrested when White Hall was raided by the Governors task force.
Don’t you know that if you keep people poor and ignorant, they are easier to lead around in the direction you want to take them?
No one answer my question in my last comment. :(
Correction Mr. Culver, if what Mr. Gilley wants to do violates what the county commission has put in place, you will surely lead the way in changing the rules to fit his whims.
Maybe someone can explain to me what all the fuss is about. I just don’t get it. Why is there such an uproar about slot machines and gambling? Don’t you all realize that gambling happens around here all the time? Ever play bingo at a church function? How about the poker runs that are for charity? Ever buy a raffle ticket at a ball game? Whether it’s for charity or not, gambling is gambling. Why are so many people around here so concerned about what everyone else is doing? What business is it of anyone’s if I decide to sit at a poker table and lose half my paycheck, or possibly win? Why is it anyone else’s business? I find it incredibly difficult to believe that the anti-gambling people have never placed a friendly bet on an Alabama-Auburn game. What’s the difference? I also think it’s ridiculous that so many taxpayers dollars are being wasted defining what is and is not bingo. Seriously people? We have an unemployment rate of 10% in this state, the high school drop-out rate is embarrassing to say the least, schools are cutting their budgets due to lack of funding…the list goes on and on. Yet our tax dollars and the time of the courts are being wasted on deciding what is and isn’t bingo. For what? To prevent what “could” happen? Why not focus on what actually IS happening? Another thing…to call Country Crossing a “casino” because it will have electronic bingo is a joke. A true casino has table games and various slot machines…not simply electronic bingo. I think it’s time for people to start minding their own business and stop trying to tell other tax-paying ADULTS what they can and cannot do. Stop trying to enforce YOUR morals and beliefs on everyone else. If you disagree with a business…don’t go! It’s as simple as that. That goes for the bikini bars and the whole no alcohol sales on Sundays as well. Mind your own business. As far as the bikini bars, and yes I know it’s off the subject, you can see more at the beach or even on prime time television than you see in one of those bars. No one is forcing these women to dance and take their clothes off. Many of the dancers are actually moms and their dancing pays their bills and puts food in their childrens bellies. Heck most of them make more money than I do. Stay out of other people’s business and put our tax dollars where they really need to go.
HA HA helmsce…I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for that money…
The only one’s who pay interest are us, the taxpayers…and we lose EVERYTHING if we don’t.
Riley is so intent on shutting down electronic bingo because it is illegal. I don’t live in Alabama any more but from time to time my job requires me to work there. I worked there last year and the state owed me $561 in tax refunds. The law states that if the state doesn’t pay the refund by a certain date they have to pay interest on the money. Well Mr. Riley you were 4 months late refunding my taxes and you didn’t pay the interest on it either. You need to sweep your own door steps before you sweep everybody else’s. The way I see it, the State of Alabama is not abiding by the law, and Bob Riley is at the top in the state so therefore Bob Riley is responsible. When can I expect my interest and the interest on my interest?
Another well stated comment, can’t add much more to that. Unfortunately, some of the legal scholars here probably can’t take in that many words at one time. I shall see you there when it opens sir. Good Luck!
Let me start off by saying that I am one of those evil gamblers. I go to Shorter every once in a while and play electronic bingo. I go to Ebro every once in a while a play Texas Hold’em and bet on the dogs. Occasionally, I go to Graceville and play bingo. I go to Florida and Georgia monthly and buy my lottery tickets. I go to Biloxi every once in a while and gamble. I am a forty year old male. I hold down a full time job. I have not gambled my rent money away, I support my thirteen year old by myself, and I am not on any kind of government assistance. I have never been mugged, shot, stabbed, or raped at any of these places I have been to and neither has anyone that I know. With the exception of Shorter, everytime I go, I think about the money that I am giving (and MANY other Alabamians) to support the education of the children in these states and how my child gets books supplied to him that don’t even have covers on them because the school system can’t afford to buy new ones. I thoroughly support McGregor and Gilley in their casino endeavors. Why is it so bad that they make a profit? If they are providing jobs and moneys to charities who cares? You can’t tell me that Governor Riley doesn’t have a financial interest in opposing the electronic bingo issue. If it is ruled that the machines that are being used are illegal, then the people of Alabama need to question their lawmakers. I urge all of you to call your congressperson and find out where they stand and let them know where you stand. Push to get the laws changed. We need to elect people that will support electronic bingo, if not gambling, in this state and oust those that do not. Thank God that Bob Riley is almost done. We need the jobs and income in this state. There used to be a joke that went something like this; “What’s so great about the state of Mississippi? It keeps Alabama from being last in everything.“ Well, folks, we are well on our way to being last in everything If we don’t change our archaic laws and ways of thinking and embrace progress. I will be at Country Crossing when it opens, and I will play the electronic bingo machines and if I don’t win, at least I will be content in knowing that the money that I lost will go to Alabamians and not people in other states. I hope to see you there!
Let me start off by saying that I am one of those evil gamblers. I go to Shorter every once in a while and play electronic bingo. I go to Ebro every once in a while a play Texas Hold’em and bet on the dogs. I go to Florida and Georgia monthly and buy my lottery tickets. I go to Biloxi every once in a while and gamble. I have not gambled my rent money away, I feed my thirteen year old, and I am not on any kind of government assistance. I have never been mugged, shot, stabbed, or raped at any of these places I have been to and neither has anyone that I know. With the exception of Shorter, everytime I go, I think about the money that I am giving (and MANY other Alabamians) to support the education of the children in these states and how my child gets books supplied to him that don’t even have covers on them because the school system can’t afford to buy new ones. I thoroughly support McGregor and Gilley in their casino endeavors. Why is it so bad that they make a profit? If they are providing jobs and moneys to charities who cares? You can’t tell me that Governor Riley doesn’t have a financial interest in opposing the electronic bingo issue. If it is ruled that the machines that are being used are illegal, then the people of Alabama need to push to get the laws changed. We need to elect people that will support the gambling issue and oust those that do not. Thank God that Bob Riley is almost done. We need the jobs and income in this state. There used to be a joke that went something like this; “What’s so great about the state of Mississippi? It keeps Alabama from being last in everything.“ Well, folks, we are well on our way to being last in everything If we don’t change our archaic laws and ways of thinking and embrace progress. I will be at Country Crossing when it opens, and I will play the electronic bingo machines and if I don’t win, at least I will be content in knowing that the money that I lost will go to Alabamians and not people of other states.
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