Two major wins for opponents of predatory gambling

Members of SPG's network in both Nebraska and Alabama recently defeated massive predatory gambling bills in the face of big money lobbying campaigns by gambling interests. These are major wins for opponents of predatory gambling. 

Last week a bill proposing to legalize a state lottery in Alabama was rejected. Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, a key sponsor of the lottery bill, called the defeat a vote against "children in poverty today," once again proving the truth that when a practice is dishonest, its promoters speak about it dishonestly. Joe Godfrey, the leader of the Alabama Citizens Action Program and a SPG board member, played a key role along with several others in applying relentless pressure throughout the last four weeks.

This week the Nebraska Secretary of State announced that all three proposed predatory gambling petitions failed to reach the valid signature threshold to appear before state voters on the November ballot. Pat Loontjer, the dynamic and effective leader of Nebraska's predatory gambling opposition group "Gambling with the Good Life, has been educating citizens in her state about the issue for many years, making it challenging for even a paid signature gathering effort by gambling interests to advance. Pat is also a SPG board member.

You and I know how tough the fight is against predatory gambling in our communities and in our states. No other issue has such a disparity in political spending. Nor is there another issue that government officials make no effort to remedy even though the facts are clear and unavoidable that government's partnership with gambling has been a spectacular failure.

We are called upon not to be successful, but to be faithful. Today, we are thankful to be faithful and successful.

If you believe what we believe in, please support our work by contributing $10 or more today to help sustain it.

Thank you.

Best,

Les Bernal
National Director
Stop Predatory Gambling

________________________________

Improving the lives of the American people, using education and advocacy to free us of the dishonesty, exploitation, addiction and inequality that commercial gambling spreads. 

Alabama: State derives no revenue from gambling despite presence of [Indian] casinos in Alabama

Just another perspective: 

INSIDE THE STATEHOUSE: State derives no revenue from gambling despite presence of casinos in Alabama

Posted by: admin(banhammer) Posted date: June 12, 2015

By Steve Flowers

As I was walking out of the Statehouse recently, someone asked me, “Do you think we will have gambling in Alabama?”

My response was simple: “We already have gambling, the state just does not derive any revenue from it.”

Indeed, gambling proliferates in our state just as it does in all of the other 49 states and the District of Columbia. People gamble online prolifically every day. There are no state line boundaries to internet gambling. All of the revenue from that activity goes out of state. Our people play the lottery, they just buy their tickets in Florida, Georgia and Tennessee. Our surrounding sister states fund their government and educate their children with our recreational dollars.

Steve Flowers

I hardly go anywhere in the state that I do not hear someone cackle that they are going to Biloxi to the shows at the casinos. Therefore, it did not surprise me when I read that 12 percent of the patrons at the Mississippi casinos were Alabamians. So our recreational gaming dollars are funding Mississippi state government. In fact, Mississippi derives 11 percent of their entire state revenue from gaming dollars.

Alabamians do not even have to go to Mississippi casinos; we have them here. They operate as Indian gambling casinos. These casinos are federally sanctioned. Therefore, the state gets no revenue from these facilities. Only the problems and costs associated with gambling addiction.

The so called Indian gambling establishments in Alabama and around the country were created under a cloud of corruption that ranks as one of the most corrupt scandals in American history. “Casino Jack” Abramoff and his partner Bob Scanlan came to Washington armed with $40 million. They essentially bought and bribed enough congressmen and senators to give these casinos a monopoly. After the legislation was passed, Abramoff and Scanlan pled guilty to federal charges of conspiracy, tax evasion and mail fraud. They went to jail with 21 other Washington insiders and congressmen. However, the Indian gambling deal is still federal law.

Bob Scanlan worked for Bob Riley when Riley was a congressman. Soon thereafter Riley ran for governor. He received a good amount of his campaign money from these same Indian gambling syndicates. The Indian gambling money that flowed into the Riley campaign is probably the reason he narrowly won the 2002 Governor’s Race.

As payback for them electing him, Riley spend the last two years of his term working to close down Macon County’s VictoryLand. The Indian gambling interests like a monopoly, which is what they have in Alabama.

Gambling dollars are big. The money spent politically is big. That is why it has become the centerpiece of conversation late in this legislative session. Legislators have come to the realization that the beleaguered General Fund is in dire straits. They believe that the good doctor, Gov. Robert Bentley, is right on that point. However, they have not and it appears they will not adopt his $540 million tax package.

The House of Representatives for the first time in four and a half years appears to have become disorganized. They have followed Speaker Mike Hubbard like a flock of sheep. They have been herded like goats. They may have come to the realization that they may be being led like pigs to slaughter.

The leader that has emerged in the first year of the quadrennium is Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh (R-Anniston). He has offered to the senate a constitutional amendment to let the people of Alabama vote on a lottery. Polling shows that it would pass overwhelmingly in a referendum.

However, it has serious political opposition inside the Statehouse and Capitol getting to the people. Gov. Bentley is opposed inexplicably because it raises about the same amount of money for the General Fund as his tax plan. Speaker Hubbard will oppose it in the House if it gets out of the Senate. He is tied inextricably to the Poach Creek gambling money. Therefore, it looks like there are three different trains going down the tracks and folks, that is a recipe for a train wreck.

It looks like a Special Session is in the works. In a Special Session the legislature must focus on the budgets and how to provide the revenue needed for state government to function. A special session is limited to 12 meeting days in 30 calendar days and only items in the governor’s call for the session may be addressed without a two-thirds vote by both chambers. We will see.

See you next week.

Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column on Alabama politics appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.

http://www.trussvilletribune.com/2015/06/12/inside-the-statehouse-state-derives-no-revenue-from-gambling-despite-presence-of-casinos-in-alabama/

Alabama's dilemma: choosing between gambling or taxes to plug budget deficit

Alabama's dilemma: choosing between gambling or taxes to plug budget deficit

The debate in the conservative state over asking voters to approve casinos and a lottery as an alternative to raising taxes is producing some unlikely bedfellows

The gambling proposal poses an awkward dilemma: ‘You’ve got to understand, whereas Republicans may not favor gaming strongly, they definitely oppose higher taxes.’Photograph: Oleksiy Maksymenko/Alamy

Max Blau

Sunday 24 May 2015 08.00 EDT

 

Del Marsh doesn’t consider himself a betting man. Yet the longtime Republican official representing Anniston, Alabama, has placed his chips on a solution to fix the state’s several-hundred-million-dollar budget shortfall that’s reignited the longstanding debate over a controversial topic in this conservative state: gambling.

 

Past efforts to loosen Alabama’s gaming restrictions have largely fallen on closed ears. But the times could be changing. A new proposal to legalize traditional casinos and establish a lottery, two forms of gambling that have traditionally encountered backlash in the heart of the Bible belt, has surfaced at the behest of conservative lawmakers.

 

State lawmakers are being forced to close the state’s more than $250m short-term budget gap during the current legislative session. Governor Robert Bentley, who so far has resisted calls for direct budget cuts from the legislative branch, has proposed raising $541m in new taxes to address both immediate and long-term budget shortfalls.

Alabama residents, long opposed to increases in both gaming and taxes, could be forced to choose the lesser of two evils.

“You’ve got to understand, whereas Republicans may not favor gaming strongly, they definitely oppose higher taxes,” says Marsh, who currently serves as the Alabama senate president pro tempore. “When you’re left with the option of the governor increasing taxes, I think it’s only fair to let the people vote on it. The taxes would not. Let the people make that decision before we tax them.”

Marsh says his bill would give voters the chance to legalize class II and class III gambling – which include slot machines, blackjack, poker, craps and other table games – near the state’s four greyhound tracks. Currently, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, the state’s lone federally recognized tribe, has smaller-scale casinos in Atmore, Montgomery and Wetumpka that offer electronic bingo that looks like slot machines but is legal. Gamblers seeking a traditional gambling experience with slot machines or roulette must leave the state to cash in their chips.

 

Three-fifths of state lawmakers would need to approve the constitutional amendment in order to place the proposal on a statewide ballot. If voters passed the measure, Alabama would levy a 13% tax on gross casino gambling revenue, which would go toward the general fund. An additional 1% tax would be split among the counties where the casinos are located. The bill also calls for a 4% tax on casino equipment vendors.

The gambling bill would also establish Alabama’s first-ever lottery to plug the budget gap. Alabama, one of six states without a lottery in the United States, is no stranger to such proposals over the years.

Back in 1998, Democrat Don Siegelman was elected governor largely on the promise of letting residents scratch lottery tickets to provide free in-state tuition to Alabama high school graduates – a model other southern states such as Georgia and South Carolina now have in place. Facing strong church opposition on moral grounds, residents ultimately rejected the lottery proposal the following year. The ill-fated plan later landed Siegelman a six-and-a-half year prison sentence for corruption charges related to the sale of a state regulatory board seat in exchange for a $500,000 lottery campaign donation.

A recent Auburn University at Montgomery study found both a lottery and casino could generate a total of nearly $400m in annual revenue. According to Marsh, the expanded gambling could lead to $800m in economic development. With Alabama residents driving to other states to gamble, he says officials are missing a major opportunity to boost the state’s economy and solve the budget crisis.

Alabama could be heading for a little bit of Las Vegas. Photograph: Kumar Sriskandan/Alamy

Republican state senator Trip Pittman doesn’t buy into the potential benefits of the gambling plan. He plans to filibuster the legislation on the senate floor arguing that it won’t solve the state’s immediate budget needs. Pittman says lawmakers should instead consider alternatives like further streamlining of the state’s retirement costs, capping healthcare spending, and revisiting the use of taxpayer incentives given to private-sector companies.
“Losers gamble,” Pittman says. “If you have a budget problem, you should change things so you don’t end up in the same place. What good are gambling or raising taxes if you don’t change the issues needed to solve the problem.”
Pittman is willing to consider some kind of tax increase and is not alone. Some members of Alabama’s Tea Party, known for steadfast resistance toward taxes, have even suggested potential tax hikes as part of the bigger solution rather than drastic cuts slashing essential programs.

At a recent public hearing, the vice-chair of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians tribal council, Robert McGhee, voiced his opposition to the constitutional amendment that would allow competing casinos to operate in the state. He blasted the measure for its lack of regulations and shortsighted approach.

“That’s like handing your teenager a credit card with no rules attached and then being surprised when you get a bill that, well, looks like Alabama’s budget deficit,” McGhee said at the public hearing.

The Poarch Band of Creek Indians have since countered with an enticing proposal: a $250m loan to help cover the budget shortfall. What’s the catch? The tribe would need to become the state’s exclusive gambling partner. A Poarch Band of Creek Indians spokesperson did not return the Guardian’s request for comment.

The full senate and house of representatives still need to sign off on Marsh’s constitutional amendment, which passed through the senate tourism and marketing committee. If lawmakers approve the bill, the constitutional amendment would be placed on the statewide ballot in September.

Some lawmakers, who are bracing for a special session to address the budget needs, have questioned whether the gambling would even solve the immediate deficit.

Alabama’s potential gambling vote would not just determine the outcome of this year’s budget talks.

It would serve as a litmus test of the state’s shifting political spectrum. Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, says residents have become increasingly moderate since the state’s referendum on gaming. With the influence of fundamentalist churches slowly declining, he says younger voters might be open to casinos and a lottery.

“Maybe voters have become more comfortable with that vote,” Bullock says. “Maybe they’ve gone to Mississippi casinos as well as bought lottery tickets in Georgia. Maybe it’s less alien to a share of the electorate today.”

Republican state senator Greg Albritton, who represents a south Alabama district where one of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians bingo casinos is located, questions whether Alabama voters are ready for both forms of gambling at the same time. But there’s one thing he’s willing to wager on: a lively debate on whether blackjack or taxes make the most sense the resolve the state’s funding problems.

“It will be a bloody fight on the floor,” Albritton says. “Will it get through? I don’t know. If it were just a lottery, it’d probably get through. If it were just private gaming, it’d have less of a chance but possible. But with both, I don’t know what will happen.”



http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/24/alabamas-dilemma-choosing-between-gambling-or-taxes-to-plug-budget-deficit

 

 

 

Alabama's future? Casino fortunes in Mississippi shrink as gambling approaches 'saturation point'

Alabama's future? Casino fortunes in Mississippi shrink as gambling approaches 'saturation point'


By Brendan Kirby

Gambling has been an enormous boon to Mississippi since the first casino opened in 1992, but lately that cash cow has not been delivering like it used to.
 
Since bringing in $312 million in tax revenue in fiscal year 2009, taxes on casinos have fallen every year but one, declining 20.6 percent to $247.8 million in fiscal year 2014. Tax revenue through the first nine months of the current fiscal year stands at $184.9 million.

Gambling officials in the Magnolia State said new casinos in Alabama, would figure to erode that even further. Alabama Senate leader Del Marsh, R-Anniston, is sponsoring a bill to simultaneously launch a lottery and allow four casinos – one at each of the state's greyhound dog racing tracks – to help prop up the state budget.

"It would have an impact on Mississippi," said Allen Godfrey, the executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission. "That would be significant. ... You'd have to be crazy to think it wouldn't have an impact."


"After that, the state will be broke again and will have to come up with a new gimmick." -- William Thompson


As Alabama lawmakers debate the wisdom of casino gambling, the Mississippi numbers serve not only as a reminder of what increased competition might mean for that state but also a glimpse at what Alabama might expect down the road. Industry experts appear divided between those who believe gambling soon will hit its limit and those who think it already has.

"Overall, the trends suggest that gambling in the form of casinos might be reaching saturation point, particularly in certain regions of the state where there are too many casinos," gambling expert Lucy Dadayan wrote in an email. "In general, the strong revenues received from new casino operations are short-lived. More so, we are seeing steady economic growth. So, the weakness in gambling revenues is not as much attributable to (the) economy."

Dadayan, a senior policy analyst for The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government at the State University of New York in Albany, authored a report in March that found casino revenue nationwide declined by .8 percent between fiscal years 2013 and 2014.

Short-term boost seen

William Thompson, a gambling expert at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, said he sees some "open space" in Alabama. He said casinos in the state, particularly in Birmingham, have the potential to draw visitors from nearby markets without casinos, like Atlanta and Nashville. But as a budget-solving measure, he said, it is not a viable long-term strategy.

"It will have a five- to 10-year run," he said. "After that, the state will be broke again and will have to come up with a new gimmick."

Mississippi jumped into gambling far before most of the copycats. And unlike most other states, it does not limit casino licenses. The state currently has 28 casinos, with another one under construction in D'Iberville. Two Indian casinos also operate within the state.

Some two-thirds of gamblers at Mississippi casinos come from outside the state. According to the Gaming Commission, Alabama is near the top of that list. For the first quarter of 2015, 12 percent of Mississippi casino patrons came from Alabama. That was just behind Louisiana, where 12.4 percent of Mississippi casino visitors live.

Click here to view the graphics if you are reading in the AL.com app.

Alabama is even more important to Mississippi's coastal casinos, with some 17.3 percent of patrons during the first three months of 2015 coming from the Heart of Dixie. Godfrey said a casino near Mobile, as envisioned by Marsh's legislation, would divert some of those customers. He noted that revenue from the coastal casinos is up over last year.

"There's some good things happening on the coast and that (a casino in Mobile) would take some wind out of the sails," he said.

Godfrey said increased competition already has had an effect. The Poarch Band of Creek Indians offers slot-like electronic bingo in Atmore, Montgomery and Wetumpka. Meanwhile, a casino added to a greyhound racing track in West Memphis, Ark., cut into Mississippi's Tunica casino market.

"Everywhere you go, there's gambling," Godfrey said. "It concerns us."

Mississippi imposes an 8 percent tax on gross gambling revenue. Most of that flows into the state's general fund, with $3 million a month dedicated to road repairs. The casinos pay an additional 4 percent, which goes to local schools and city and county governments where the facilities are located.
Gambling revenue makes up nearly a third of the budget in the city of Biloxi, but Interim Mayor Kenny Glavan did not express panic over the prospect of casinos in neighboring Alabama. He said Alabama's dog tracks, where the casinos would be located, could use a shot in the arm.

"Does it hurt the casino experience in Biloxi? I don't think it significantly does," he said. "Usually, competition makes businesses that are competing better."

Glavan said city officials are focusing on trying to diversify the local entertainment base. That is part of the strategy behind a minor league baseball stadium set to open this year and plans to develop east Biloxi.

"The (gambling) industry only has so much to go around," he said. "It is getting close to the outer edge of the saturation that everyone is so concerned about."

'Significant ripple effect'

Chris Moyer, a spokesman for the American Gaming Association, said there still is room for growth in the industry despite increased competition. In an environment of expanded gambling, states must compete against one another to maximize the return.

"As a result, states can earn that revenue," he said. "What we have found is that those who are opposed to the industry are not living in places where casinos are operating."

Moyer said casinos form a $240 billion industry that supports 1.7 million jobs nationwide and delivers $38 billion in tax revenue.

"There is a significant ripple effect in the economy," he said.

Under the bill sponsored by Marsh, the state would tax gross casino gambling revenues at 13 percent, with the money going to plug a hole in the state's General Fund budget. Revenue from an additional 1 percent tax would go to local governments.

Economist Semoon Chang, who once served on a gambling task force appointed by former Mobile Mayor Mike Dow, said he thinks the proposal is the wrong way to go about introducing casinos. Rushing casinos at the dog tracks in an effort to get tax revenue flowing quickly is likely to hurt the long-term success of the operations, he said.

Chang said for casinos to succeed – and not just redirect spending from other Alabama businesses – the Alabama facilities need to draw at least half of their customers from out of state. To do that in the face of Mississippi's more established operations, he added, Alabama needs distinctive casinos.

"The few we have have to be really luxurious and fancy," he said. "If they are not very nice, they will have primarily local gamblers. ... We have to have something very creative to make our casinos attractive."

Updated at 12:57 p.m. to clarify a quote from casino industry spokesman Chris Moyer.

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/05/alabamas_future_casino_fortune.html

AL.comhttp://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/05/alabamas_future_casino_fortune.htmlhttp://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/05/alabamas_future_casino_fortune.htmlhttp://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/05/alabamas_future_casino_fortune.htmlhttp://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/05/alabamas_future_casino_fortune.htmlhttp://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/05/alabamas_future_casino_fortune.html

Wow! Alabama Fireworks for Overstated Projections

A GAZILLION JOBS! BUCKETS OF $$$!

INSTEAD OF SOUND FISCAL POLICY.....



Report says Alabama could raise $400 million with lottery, four casinos
By Mike Cason | mcason@al.comAL.com
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on April 27, 2015

Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston


Alabama could raise about $400 million in new revenue with a lottery and casinos at the state's four greyhound tracks, according to a report released today by Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh.
State lawmakers will consider the report as they decide whether it's time to propose gaming as a way to help fund services in Alabama.

"At a time when we are talking about either massive budget cuts or higher taxes, this is something we certainly need to look at and consider," Marsh said in a news release.

The president pro-tem's office commissioned the study by the Auburn University at Montgomery Institute for Accountability and Government Efficiency.

The study found that a state lottery would generate $332 million in revenue after prizes and expenses are paid.

It found that adding slot machines and table games at dog tracks in Birmingham, Mobile, Macon County and Greene County would raise $64 million to $74 million, depending on whether the state imposed a tax of 13 percent or 15 percent.

Marsh said he commissioned the study to get an independent set of numbers about what gambling could mean for state revenue.

The state faces a projected shortfall of $200 million or more in the General Fund in 2016.

A lottery would not come in time to fix that problem because it would require voter approval in a constitutional amendment and months to set up.

Casino games would also require a constitutional amendment but could potentially produce revenue next year if a special election was called rather than waiting until scheduled elections in 2016.

The earliest special election would be three months after the session in which the proposed constitutional amendment is passed.

But the General Fund problems are not confined to 2016. The Legislature has relied on transfers and one-time sources to cover the gaps in the budget for years.

Rachel Adams, spokeswoman for House Speaker Mike Hubbard, issued a statement about the AUM report:

"Speaker Hubbard is reviewing the study and formulating an opinion, but even if a referendum were
held, it would take place well into the next fiscal year," Adams said. "This proposal does not solve our 2016 budget problem and an immediate solution is still required."

Gov. Robert Bentley has proposed raising taxes on cars and tobacco and eliminating some credits and exemptions to raise $541 million in revenue to cover the 2016 shortfall and stabilize the General Fund in future years.

Legislators have not voted on any of the eight bills in Bentley's package 16 days into the 30-day session.

Marsh said the gambling revenues can be an alternative.

He plans to meet with the Senate Republican caucus on Tuesday to discuss the report. The senator said he sent it to all 34 other senators on Friday.

Marsh, an advocate for downsizing state government, said the state has about 5,500 fewer employees than in 2010 and said it could reduce the state workforce by probably another 3,000 through attrition.

But he said that would not resolve the long-term concerns of funding Medicaid, mental health, prisons and services for senior citizens.

The report estimated that casinos at the four greyhound tracks would create about 11,000 jobs.

Suman Majumdar, a senior consultant for AUM Outreach, said that would include jobs at the casinos and one adjoining hotel at each site.

The economic impact of the casinos was estimated at $800 million annually.

Updated at 5:34 p.m. to say casino games might provide revenue in 2016 if they are approved in a special election.



http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/04/report_says_alabama_could_rais.html

Poarch Creek to Gov. Rick Scott: Pot or Slots!

 

OR

Poarch Creek offer choice between gambling and marijauna to Gov. Scott

From staff reports · February 21, 2015

The Associated Press is reporting that the Alabama-based Poarch Creek Band of Indians wants to move gambling sites into Florida. Facing opposition, tribal leaders say they try a new negotiation strategy.

Rebuffed so far by Gov. Rick Scott, the Poarch Creek Band of Indians is suggesting it might adopt a hardball negotiating stance: Let us offer gambling in a few Florida locations, or we could consider growing and selling marijuana on our property.

Tribal leaders are contesting their right to build a gambling site on the Florida side of the Florida/Alabama line near the Wind Creek Casino they already operate in Atmore, Ala.
Read the full story here.


http://pensacolatoday.com/2015/02/poarch-creek-offer-choice-between-gambling-and-marijauna-to-gov-scott/

Poarch Creeks To Rick Scott: Let Us Open Casino In North Escambia, Or We’ll Start Selling Pot

February 21, 2015

A single acre of land in North Escambia may be taking center stage in the future of gambling in Florida, or it may just become a one-stop marijuana shop.

The Poarch Band of Creek Indians really want the small parcel in the Nokomis community to be the home of their next gaming facility. They are currently constructing a large metal building that covers a majority of the acre, about five miles west of Highway 97 on Nokomis Road. They are officially calling the structure a “warehouse”, but its true future use remains to be seen.

http://www.northescambia.com/2015/02/poarch-creeks-to-rick-scott-let-us-open-casino-in-north-escambia-or-well-start-selling-pot

Don't believe it's old news. Document rips Alabama Speaker Mike Hubbard legally, ethically and strategically

Don't believe it's old news. Document rips Alabama Speaker Mike Hubbard legally, ethically and strategically

By John Archibald | jarchibald@al.comAL.com
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on August 04, 2014


I keep hearing how we've heard it all before.

You know, shady and improper links between Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard and the
Poarch Band of Creek Indians.

Heard that.

Speaker of the House Mike HubbardDave Martin/Associated Press

You know, the way cash was passed from the Indian gaming interests to a powerful GOP group nationally, and how that money was passed back to Hubbard and PACs he controlled so that nobody would know the anti-gaming Alabama GOP was financed by ... Indian opposition.

Heard that, too.

But we've never heard it like this. Not out loud, outlined in a damning document written by lawyers for the Republican State Leadership Committee itself, obtained by Politico and posted online (along with a pretty damning story by Politico's Alexander Burns).

Because what is outlined in the document written by lawyers for the RSLC is more than innuendo and political trash talk. It is a cover-your-butt warning to the RSLC itself.

What the group did in Alabama was shady.

What Hubbard did was designed to trick the people of Alabama.

And what they did together was – these are the words of the RSLC lawyers from the Washington firm of BakerHostetler – probably illegal.

"It is likely that a prosecutor in Alabama, after investigation, could argue that the routing of contributions from the Poarch Creek Indians to RSLC, then back to certain Alabama PACs controlled by Mike Hubbard does appear to violate Section 17-5-15 (a misdemeanor)," the lawyers wrote. "It is also common knowledge and wisdom in Alabama that taking a contribution directly from the tribe is political suicide for a Republican candidate or public official. Here RSLC appears to have served as both a recipient of the funds in question and as a donor of the funds back to Alabama, thereby permitting Mike Hubbard to do indirectly that which he could not do directly."

Oh snap.

Because there is a prosecutor investigating the activities of Mike Hubbard in a Lee County grand jury as we speak. Hubbard, by the way, has already used political contributions to pay lawyers at White Arnold & Dowd more than $170,000 for his defense. Which is legal but ... God knows why?

But I digress.

While all these words and phrases (Indians and gambling and PAC-to-PAC transfers) might seem – yawn, so 2010 – it's the actual concern from lawyers at this very Republican group that is thunderous.

I mean come on, Woodward and Bernstein made a lot of noise with talk about Watergate. But it was the tapes – and the confirmation -- that made a difference.

And while I know Matt Hart and other prosecutors investigating Hubbard don't need a roadmap, this one comes with GPS navigation.

But it doesn't just have legal implications. It confirms the worst of suspicions, that politically toxic Indian gaming cash was laundered through a powerful GOP group and sent back to Alabama, where the fight to shut down non-Indian gaming continues.

The memo notes that RSLC took about $1.11 million from Alabama donors from 2009 to 2011, and about $578,000 of it came from the Poarch Creek Indians and their lobbyists. During the election 2010 election cycle, Poarch Creek donations tripled the next-highest contributor.

Much of this stuff has been reported across Alabama and in the New York Times and elsewhere. But not like this. Not by people like this, protecting their own clients' legal and PR interests.

"This would cause a political firestorm in Alabama if made public," the lawyers wrote. "Both Hubbard and his ally, Governor (Bob) Riley, have made a political cause out of eliminating non-tribe gaming in Alabama. Now, it would appear to an outside observer that this has been a hypocritical effort funded by Indian gaming interest in order to keep non-Indian casinos out of Alabama. RSLC was reckless in making a contribution to a group historically affiliated with Jack Abramoff."

The Democrats have been screaming that for years. And that's why this document is more than old news.

It's not just the crazy Dems talking anymore. These are the prestigious lawyers for the powerful Republican State Leadership Committee itself, saying Alabama and Mike Hubbard are trouble.

Hear that.




http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/08/dont_believe_its_old_news_docu.html

Aquinnah tribe buoyed by gaming ruling

 

 

 

Aquinnah tribe buoyed by gaming ruling

 

 

By George Brennan

gbrennan@capecodonline.com

April 19, 2014

A federal court ruling that favored an Alabama tribe could boost the case for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) to open a casino on its Martha's Vineyard land.

 

In a ruling handed down last week, a federal judge concluded that Congress intended the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act to prevent state law from interfering with Indian gaming on tribal lands.

 

The judge in the Alabama case ruled on April 11 that the state could not restrict three casinos operated by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians on tribal lands. In an interesting twist, the judge ruled that federal law protects the gaming authority of the Poarch Band even if the type of casinos are illegal under state law, which they are in Alabama.

 

"The bottom line is that even if defendants are operating illegal Class III gaming at the Poarch Band casinos, (state law) does not provide the state authority to prohibit such gaming," the judge wrote. Class III gaming includes most casino games.

 

The Poarch Band casinos apparently use full-fledged slot machines while the state has only authorized Class II gaming, which is typically bingo, electronic or otherwise, and certain card games.

 

Massachusetts legalized full-fledged casinos in 2012, and the law authorizes the governor to negotiate with federally recognized Indian tribes.

 

In court documents filed Thursday, attorneys for the Aquinnah tribe provided a supplemental brief that includes the Alabama decision as ammunition in its battle with Massachusetts over gambling rights. The Vineyard-based tribe's contends that it can legally operate a Class II casino, essentially a high-stakes bingo hall, on its Island land without permission from the state.

 

"... The district court dismissed the state's complaint, concluding that Congress intended IGRA (Indian Gaming Regulatory Act) to preempt all state-law claims that 'interfere with tribal governance of gaming,'" Aquinnah lawyers wrote about the Alabama case.

 

The Aquinnah already have received opinions from federal agencies responsible for overseeing Indian gaming that the federal law supersedes settlement acts.

 

The distinction in the Alabama case may be that it doesn't involve a land settlement agreement, Ronald Rappaport, an attorney for the town of Aquinnah, which opposes a tribe casino, said.

 

Rappaport said he could not comment further until he has a chance to review the Alabama decision.

 

Massachusetts and town officials have argued that the land settlement between the Aquinnah and the state, reached in 1983 and codified by Congress in 1987, requires the tribe to follow state and local laws.

 

Brad Puffer, a spokesman for Attorney General Martha Coakley's office, which is handling the case for the state, declined comment on the ongoing litigation.

 

Scott Crowell, the tribe's lead attorney in the case, did not return calls seeking comment.

 

Last month, U.S. District Judge Dennis Saylor heard oral arguments in the dispute between the state and the Aquinnah over whether state or federal court has jurisdiction in the case. Saylor took the case under advisement and has not yet issued a ruling.

 

In December, Gov. Deval Patrick filed suit in state court seeking to block a Class II casino on the island after tribe leaders made their plans public. The suit, which was brought before a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, alleges a breach of contract.

 

That triggered a move by the tribe to have the case heard in federal court, which the Aquinnah believe has jurisdiction because of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

 

Tribe leaders have support from the tribe's general membership to use an unfinished community center on the island as a gambling hall. The tribe moved in that direction after the Patrick administration repeatedly refused to negotiate a compact with the tribe similar to the deal reached with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe for a Taunton casino.

 

 

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140419/NEWS/404190324/-1/NEWSLETTER100

 

Tribe gives $250,000 to attorney general candidate

KIM CHANDLE, Associated Press

By KIM CHANDLER, Associated Press

Updated 11:21 am, Friday, March 7, 2014

 

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Poarch Band of Creek Indians gave heavily to the Democratic challenger for attorney general who opposes incumbent Luther Strange's efforts to close the tribe's casinos.

 

Montgomery Rep. Joe Hubbard, D-Montgomery, filed campaign finance reports this week showing he received $250,000 from political action committees fueled by the Poarch Creeks.

 

Hubbard received a total of $250,000 from three PACs operated by lobbyist John Teague. The PACs received almost all of their money from the Poarch Creeks. The money represents the bulk of the $326,827 that Hubbard raised in the first month of his campaign for attorney general.

 

The Poarch Band operates electronic bingo casinos in Montgomery, Wetumpka and Atmore.

 

Strange has encouraged the National Indian Gaming Commission to take action against the Poarch Creek's three casinos, arguing the tribe's electronic bingo machines are more like slot machines and should not be allowed without state permission. He filed a lawsuit in 2013 seeking to shut down the three casinos, accusing the tribe of "operating, advancing, and profiting from unlawful gambling activity."

 

Hubbard on Friday said Strange was wasting state resources. He said the Poarch Band is a federally recognized tribe and not under Alabama jurisdiction.

 

"Luther Strange has no more business going in there and telling them how to run their business than he does going down to Mexico City and telling Mexicans how to run their domino games. Trying to run those little old ladies out of those bingo parlors is a waste of precious resources that we can't afford to waste," Hubbard said.

 

An email requesting comment from Strange's campaign was not immediately returned.

 

Strange said in a statement last year that federal inaction regarding Indian bingo casinos left him no action but to file the lawsuit.

 

"As I have said many times, my office will use every tool at its disposal to stop illegal gambling in Alabama, wherever it is located. This lawsuit against the Poarch Band is one of those tools," Strange said.

 

Hubbard announced his challenge to the Strange last month. Strange is still far outgunning Hubbard in the money raise. Strange this week reported a campaign balance of nearly $1.2 million.

 

The Poarch Creeks, now the state's chief operator of electronic bingo games, have become a major player on the Alabama political stage. The tribe has made $837,500 in campaign contributions since June, according to campaign finance records.

 

 

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Tribe-gives-250-000-to-attorney-general-candidate-5297371.php

 

 

Gilley asks for new sentence in gambling case

Published: July 24, 2013

 

 

FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2010 file photo, Cross Country gaming facility owner Ronnie Gilley leaves the Federal building in Montgomery, Ala. Gilley has asked a federal judge to reduce his prison sentence. Gilley is making the request because he and his Atlanta-based attorney, Amy Weil, claim that his former attorney, David Harrison, provided ineffective counsel. "Attorney Harrison told me that it was in my best interest to plead guilty because, if I pleaded guilty and cooperated, the court would sentence me to probation or, at worst, house arrest," Gilley wrote. " Gilley pleaded guilty in Alabama's gambling corruption investigation and has admitted he was deeply in debt and out of money when he offered millions in bribes to legislators to support pro-gambling legislation.

DAVE MARTIN — AP Photo

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/07/24/5049790/gilley-asks-for-new-sentence-in.html#storylink=cpy

 

DOTHAN, Ala. — Former Country Crossing developer Ronnie Gilley has asked a federal judge to reduce his prison sentence.
The Dothan Eagle reported (http://bit.ly/140eKxc ) that Gilley is making the request because he and his Atlanta-based attorney, Amy Weil, claim that his former attorney, David Harrison, provided ineffective counsel.

"Attorney Harrison told me that it was in my best interest to plead guilty because, if I pleaded guilty and cooperated, the court would sentence me to probation or, at worst, house arrest," Gilley wrote.

"Attorney Harrison told me that he could secure a sentence of probation or house arrest because he had a great relationship with the U.S. Attorney's Office."

It has been nearly a year since Gilley was sentenced to 80 months in federal prison for multiple counts of bribery and money laundering in connection with a wide-ranging investigation into bribery tied to proposed gambling legislation.

Gilley's current attorney filed a motion to vacate the sentence, saying his former lawyer misled him on the expected range of his sentence. The motion also says, among other things, that Gilley's former lawyer should have called as a witness one of the FBI's lead investigators on the gambling corruption case.

In the motion, Weil also argued that Gilley's former attorney acknowledged to state officials that he offered bribes of more than $2 million when evidence showed that wasn't the case. Weil said the detail is important because sentencing levels increase with the amount of bribes being offered, and he could have gotten less jail time had his former attorney argued the monetary amount of the bribes.
Harrison said he provided effective counsel and is not surprised by the motion.

"It is something that happens in a lot of cases. I have filed a lot of them before and I have been a subject before. I am used to that. It's part of the system," Harrison told the newspaper.

The motion has been passed on to U.S. Magistrate Judge Wallace Capel.

Gilley is incarcerated in federal prison in Atlanta and has served more than eight months.

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/07/24/5049790/gilley-asks-for-new-sentence-in.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/07/24/5049790/gilley-asks-for-new-sentence-in.html

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/07/24/5049790/gilley-asks-for-new-sentence-in.html#storylink=cpy
 

Sentencing in Kimberly Corruption, Bribery, Illegal Gambling

June 20, 2013

John Lynwood Taylor sentenced in Kimberly gambling and corruption probe
 By Robert Carter
North Jefferson News The North Jefferson News
Thu Jun 20, 2013, 03:41 PM CDT

BIRMINGHAM — Another person charged in the federal gambling and public corruption probe in Kimberly has been sentenced.

John Lynwood Taylor, one of six defendants on the case, was sentenced to seven months in prison plus another seven months of home confinement. The sentence was handed down in a sealed hearing on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Birmingham.

Taylor will also serve three years’ probation, perform community service and pay a $4,000 fine.

Taylor is the fourth person indicted in the case to be sentenced. Daniel “Boone” Stone, Kyle Sloan and Carl Scoggins Jr. were sentenced earlier this year, with Daniel Stone receiving only probation and a fine.

Like the other four, Christopher Adam McGraw and Robert Taylor have also cut plea deals with prosecutors. Taylor will be sentenced on July 23 and McGraw after that, according to trial attorney Tracee Plowell of the Department of Justice Public Integrity Section.

The six men conspired to place illegal electronic bingo machines in houses in and around Kimberly, and bribed then-Mayor Craig Harris to keep police away from the operations. When he first received a bribe offer, Harris contacted authorities, and agreed to wear a concealed recording device to gather details about the gambling operation. -

See more at: http://www.njeffersonnews.com/local/x1885651924/John-Lynwood-Taylor-sentenced-in-Kimberly-gambling-and-corruption-probe#sthash.maunY3Rt.dpuf

Attorney General Strange beefs up lawsuit against Indian casinos

Attorney General Strange beefs up lawsuit against Indian casinos
Posted: Apr 12, 2013
By Tametria Conner

 

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - Alabama Attorney General Luther strange is beefing up the state's lawsuit against the Poarch Band of Creek Indian's three casinos.

In March, the Indians filed a motion to move the case to federal court. They also asked the court to simply dismiss the case.

Attorney General Strange's latest filing centers on whether the tribe's games are slot machines or bingo machines.

The original suit was filed in February and asked the court to close the Indian casinos in Atmore, Montgomery and Wetumpka.

[DOCUMENT: Attorney General's court filing (.pdf)]

Thursday's filing amends that complaint to clarify the federal aspects of the state's claims. AG Strange wants to shut the casinos down, saying they are operating slot machines which are considered illegal under Alabama law.

The Poarch Creek Indians argue that the attorney general is trying to circumvent federal law and disregard the sovereignty of their land.

http://www.myfoxal.com/story/21949891/attorney-general-strange-beefs-up

Bingo battle heats up as A.G. Luther Strange expands complaint against Poarch Creek

12 Apr 2013 6:33 AM Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange today returned fire against the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, lodging a multi-pronged legal attack on the tribe's gambling interests in the state. The new tack was laid out in an amended complaint against the tribe filed today in U.S. District Court in Montgomery. Strange had originally asked an Elmore County Circuit Court judge to shut down the Poarch Band's three casinos on the grounds that they are a public nuisance. The new complaint was filed after the tribe last month moved the lawsuit to federal court and asked a judge to dismiss it on the grounds that Alabama has no legal right to sue the Poarch Band, a sovereign nation under federal law. "We have amended the complaint to clarify the federal aspects of the State's claim and to let the court know more about how the Tribe's slot machines ope rate. Amending a complaint is something that happens all the time in the early stages of a lawsuit," said Andrew Brasher, Strange's deputy solicitor general, in an email. Brasher's statement goes on to suggest that filing the suit in state court at first was a legal rouse designed to limit the tribe's options in court. "We were not surprised that the tribal defendants moved the lawsuit from state court to federal court. This procedural move required the tribal defendants to acknowledge that federal law gives the State a claim against them and to waive several defenses that they could have raised. So, we are not asking the federal court to send the case back to state court; we are asking the federal court to go ahead and consider our claim now," he said. The latest complaint still claims that the tribe's casinos are a public nuisance under Alabama law, but it expands the legal theater of battle by calling into question the slot-style, electronic bingo machines that the tribe uses. Unlike private gambling operations, like the recently raided VictoryLand, which are covered by state law, Tribal gambling is governed by the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, commonly referred to as IGRA. Broadly speaking, IGRA allows federally recognized tribes like the Poarch Band to engage in bingo gambling if bingo gambling is legal elsewhere in the state. In order to engage in slot machines or table games like blackjack and roulette, tribes have to enter into a legal compact with the state. Bingo is legal in certain Alabama counties, so the Poarch Band has the right to operate bingo halls. However, the tribe has no compact with the state, and Alabama law specifically prohibits slot-machine gambling, which is what Strange argues is really going on in Poarch Band casinos. Bingo or Slots? Strange argues slots IGRA allows tribes to engage in bingo via comp uters or other "technological aids," even if such electronic versions of the game are illegal elsewhere in the state. However, IGRA expressly forbids "electronic or electromechanical facsimiles of any game of chance or slot machines of any kind." According to Strange's complaint, that's exactly what the Poarch Band's machines are designed to do. The complaint includes a number of exhibits showing the kinds of "bingo" machines that the Poarch Band uses, noting their resemblance to slot machines. Several of the models, the complaint points out, have both bingo and non-bingo versions that are virtually identical. An AL.com reporter recently lost $20 to Red Hot Fusion, one of the models cited in the complaint, as he did research on the Wind Creek Casino in Atmore. An avid gamer told him that a Pascagoula casino has the same game, minus the bingo. As the complaint puts it, "The player does not need to pay attention, listen to alphanumeric designations drawn one-by-one, or match them up to a bingo card. Instead, the player presses a single button, watches slot-machine reels spin, and is told whether he or she has won by the gambling device." In addition to Strange's argument that th e games themselves are illegal under federal and state law, he also asserts that the tribe's casinos do not sit on federally protected trust land and are thus subject to the state's gambling laws. The 1934 Indian Reorganization Act gave the federal government the right to take lands of recognized tribes into trust, but the U.S. Supreme Court's 2009 Carcieri decision ruled that the law only applies to tribes that were recognized at the time the act went into law. Since the Poarch Band was recognized in the 1980s, that means their lands are not actually federally protected, according to Strange. Some experts have said that the Carcieri decision does not necessarily apply to all tribes, that it would take further legal or administrative changes to undo the trust status of the dozens of tribes that gained federal recognition after 1934. The tribe will likely file a new response to the state's complaint in the coming weeks.

 

http://www.wwntradio.com/news/news.php/displayType/article/12780/2013/04/bingo-battle-heats-up-as-ag-luther-strange-expands-complaint-against-poarch-creek

 

 Alabama tribal casino slot machine dispute moves to federal court
The Republic
The Montgomery Advertiser reports (http://on.mgmadv.com/17vyQor ) state officials say the Poarch Creek casinos are feature gambling machines that violate state and federal laws. Officials say operating slot machines is illegal in the state and illegal ...



AG wants federal judge to shut down Indian casinos
Montgomery Advertiser
The state, in the amended complaint filed on Thursday by the office of Attorney General Luther Strange, is seeking to shut down the Poarch Creek casinos by having them declared public nuisances that operate slot machines that are illegal in the state ...

 

68-year-old Gambling Addict to Prison

Etowah County woman with gambling addiction sentenced to prison in $933,000 theft from former employer

By Kent Faulk | The Birmingham News on April 02, 2013


BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - A 68-year-old Etowah County woman, with a gambling addiction, was sentenced Monday to nearly five years in federal prison for her guilty plea to stealing $933,000 from her former employer, court records show.

U.S. District Court Judge Lynwood Smith sentenced Peggy Cochran McGlaughn during a hearing in Huntsville on Monday to 33 months for bank fraud and 24 months for identity theft. The sentences are to run consecutive.

Smith also ordered her to pay restitution of $933,079, plus interest, and once she completes her prison sentence to serve five years of supervised probation, according to court records. She is to report to prison June 3.

"Mrs. McGlaughn accepts her fate for the wrong she committed, but I feel that 57 months is more than is necessary to accomplish the purposes of sentencing in light of her age and health," her attorney, Tommy Spina, said today. "She is very remorseful for the harm caused to her former employers who trusted her."

In July 2011, McGlaughn pleaded guilty to bank fraud and aggravated identity theft for stealing the money from Bob Roberts & Co., a family-owned construction company in Gadsden. She worked for the company as bookkeeper and office manager for 24 years.

Spina had argued for a lesser sentence in a memorandum to the judge. That memo argued that her age and lack of criminal history should factor into her sentencing. Nearly a dozen family members and friends also submitted letters requesting leniency.

Spina's memorandum also stated McGlaughn suffers from a wide range of ailments, takes 19 medications and is treated by several doctors.

The 57-month sentence is what Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Borton had asked for in the case.
Court records show that between Oct. 28, 2003, and Feb. 23, 2010 McGlaughn obtained signatures from the company's president or his parents on more than 100 blank checks, which she claimed she was using to conduct company business.

McGlaughn then filled in the check, made the checks out to another employee whose endorsement she forged without his knowledge, and cashed the checks at a local bank.

In February 2010, the company submitted to a random state audit, which revealed discrepancies in its finances.

Borton had stated in his sentencing memorandum that the 57 months was deserved.

When confronted by the company's president, McGlaughn "threatened to report (the company) to OSHA and the IRS if (the president) didn't agree to accept $55,000 from her in exchange for (him) signing a release."


http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/04/etowah_county_woman_with_gambl.html