More Sharks Than All The Oceans

ALABAMA VOICES: Bob Riley's position

When I listened to Attorney General King's speech the other day about the Task Force on Illegal Gambling, I was surprised and disappointed. It sounded more like a speech being given by an advocate for the casinos than by the attorney general of our state. While I respect his office, he didn't present the issues in a balanced or fair manner.

This notion that the law is unclear is absolutely wrong, yet he and some others go to great lengths to make it appear there is some sort of confusion. There should be no confusion because the law is clear and the Alabama Supreme Court has ruled.

First, the Supreme Court has defined in crystal-clear fashion what legal bingo is and what it is not. None of the so-called "electronic bingo" slot machines can meet those clear definitions. While I cannot disclose the details of undercover law enforcement operations, I can report that these dedicated law enforcement officers would not be pursuing this if the situation were not clear.

Second, Alabama law says that it is illegal to operate a slot machine or anything readily convertible to a slot machine. Under Alabama law, a slot machine is a machine that accepts money and then dispenses cash value prizes based upon any element of chance. Every one of these machines takes cash or credit and then dispenses cash prizes based at least in part on chance.

Finally, almost all of the constitutional amendments concerning bingo contain very clear restrictions that bingo games are to be operated by charities with very specific terms. For example, the Houston County amendment says that no one can get paid to help run the bingo games, yet Country Crossing says it was paying hundreds of people to do just that.

Law enforcement officers have a duty to stop crime when they see it, not wait for a court to tell them that obvious illegal activity is going on. In fact, it is the people breaking the law who hope we will wait. If you had a meth lab on your street, you wouldn't want the police to wait to arrest the people until they had gone through a lawsuit that could take years to finish.

When you break the law, you can expect to be arrested and your illegal materials seized right away. That is the way it works. It should not work any differently for rich and powerful casino bosses who break the law.

I also want to make perfectly clear that the law allows the task force to make arrests and seize machines without a warrant. To say otherwise is a complete distortion of the law. When a law enforcement officer sees a crime being committed, that officer is authorized to make an arrest and seize illegal materials without a warrant. Any lawyer who knows what he is talking about will tell you that is the law. So all this talk about warrantless searches is just a red herring.

As for the attorney general's suggestions, I certainly will think through them, but they are problematic for many reasons.

He suggests that we file civil lawsuits in four counties. Yet the Supreme Court's decision in the VictoryLand case says there is no jurisdiction for trial courts to hear that sort of case. And, as I mentioned above, I cannot accept the idea of filing civil lawsuits so that illegal criminal conduct can go on for months -- if not years -- while the lawsuits work their way through the system.

I also wonder why the attorney general is so interested in those four counties. Apparently he has no problem with the casinos that have been shut down or prevented from opening in Walker, Jefferson, St. Clair and Mobile counties and others. I don't see why the casinos in Macon, Houston, Lowndes and Greene counties are entitled to special treatment. That's not the way the rule of law works.

The attorney general also said that courts should determine whether casinos in Macon, Houston, and Lowndes counties should remain closed. Apparently, he has forgotten that those casinos closed voluntarily. Their operators shut them down to keep law enforcement officers from obtaining evidence of their crimes. Had we seized the equipment, they could already be in court right now litigating the legality of their machines. Instead, by closing their doors, they are avoiding such a ruling.

Finally, the attorney general suggested that the Task Force should announce it will not make any more raids against these illegal enterprises. I can certainly understand why the casino bosses would like to have that commitment from the task force, but that commitment will not be made. If our undercover law enforcement officers find evidence of criminal activity taking place, then those casinos can expect a visit from law enforcement.

The law does not permit slot machine gambling. And the rule of law must be enforced, no matter how much money is spent trying to convince people it should be ignored. Because of the rule of law, all of us -- regardless of our race, religion or anything else -- are equal. Men and women have fought, struggled and died to protect our right to be equal in the eyes of the law. As Alabamians, we know this better than most.

If we let casino bosses ignore the laws they don't like, then the law becomes whatever the casino bosses want it to be. And if constitutional officers of this state stand by and let that happen, Alabama will be swimming in a pool that has more sharks than all the oceans of the world.

Bob Riley is governor of Alabama.