Editorial: At long last

Editorial: At long last
By Dothan Eagle editorial

Months have passed since the threat of seizure of electronic bingo machines by Alabama authorities shuttered casinos in Dothan and Macon County, and many — including this editorial board — questioned why similar operations in Greene County were allowed to reopen and conduct the purportedly illegal business of electronic bingo.

It’s a valid question, but it’s no longer open-ended. On Wednesday, Greenetrack in Eutaw and Frontier Bingo in Knoxville were served with search warrants, and more than 700 gambling devices in those businesses were seized.

That’s been long overdue, and it’s likely no coincidence that this week’s raids come just before the opening of a federal corruption trial for several lawmakers and lobbyists and Victoryland owner Milton McGregor accused in a vote-buying scheme to secure passage of a gambling bill.

Perhaps this raid will lead to a definitive ruling on the legality of electronic bingo, which the courts seemed to have tip-toed around since then-Gov. Bob Riley put Country Crossing’s electronic bingo operation in his sights in late 2009. Although the Alabama constitution prohibits gambling, electronic bingo, played on machines that resemble flashy slot machines in a casino atmosphere and pay off in vouchers for cash when a player wins, is authorized by tweaking constitutional amendments that allow traditional bingo in various Alabama counties. Similar games had been played in other parts of the state without incident, and millions of dollars were spent locally to build a controversial but apparently legal bingo operation south of Dothan.

Legislation that would have given Alabama voters an opportunity to authorize electronic bingo would have answered the legal question had it passed both the legislature and a referendum. It was never approved in the state house, and an investigation led to the arrests of several lawmakers and lobbyists, along with Country Crossing developer Ronnie Gilley and Victoryland’s McGregor.

The bingo operation in Greene County has little if nothing to do with the upcoming trial, but it has everything to do with the sort of wink-wink, nudge-nudge, cobbled-together, contradictory runarounds pervasive in Alabama law.

The trial will determine whether corrupt behavior took place in the advocacy of the gambling bill in question.

Now the state needs a determination of the relationship of electronic bingo to the paper-and-dauber game voters thought they authorized years ago.