‘Big bingo’ bill changes everything
- Apr 2, 2009
For weeks, rumors have flown around the Statehouse about a “big bingo” bill coming down the pipeline supported by “gambling bosses” that would forever change the face of Alabama as we know it.
And when identical 44-page bills — Senate Bill (SB) 471 and House Bill (HB) 676 — were revealed late March 5, the rumors were proven true.
These bills — sponsored by Sen. Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery, and Rep. Marcel Black, D-Tuscumbia — call for a constitutional amendment establishing a “bingo monopoly” and iron-clad electronic gambling operations in eight counties and one town around the state.
If passed, the constitutional amendment would become the most powerful bingo gambling law in Alabama, and no one could stop it, said Eric Johnston, president of and general counsel for the Southeast Law Institute in Birmingham, which deals with moral issues affecting public policy in the state.
The constitutional amendment would also require a state compact with Indian bingo gambling facilities, and would mandate the governor to enter into the compact, no matter how he or she feels on the issue.
While the legislation calls for regulation and taxation of the bingo gambling facilities, this is “just an incentive to get voters to vote in favor of it,” Johnston said. “It’s the same thing they’ve done in earlier years — bingo for books, bingo for Medicaid — they just try to camouflage it and say this is a great value. But we have to keep in mind that the revenue will have to come out of the pockets of those who are least able to pay. It’s a regressive tax.”
This bill “was dreamed up and is being carried out by the big gambling interests in the counties that are named — Jefferson, Mobile, Etowah, Calhoun, Walker, Houston, Greene and Macon Counties, as well as the Town of White Hall,” he said.
Under this amendment, the remaining eight counties will be limited to traditional card bingo gambling unless they pass a local act and establish a bingo location worth more than $50 million in most cases, according to Johnston.
“The more powerful bingo groups are saying we are the big guys, we control this and if you want to come under it, you’ve got to spend millions of dollars to do so,” he added. “They are creating a monopoly that would make it difficult for others to come in.”
These two bills set up a gambling commission to regulate and enforce gambling laws in the state, which Johnston said “exempts them from law enforcement and sets up their own self-government.”
“There is no real oversight from disinterested objective people,” he added. “It takes away any real law enforcement ability over the gambling operations.”
Gov. Bob Riley, who is pushing hard to get an Alabama Supreme Court ruling on the matter of electronic bingo gambling, said, “We will spend more than $12 billion in state and federal money on education in Alabama this year. This proposal would bring in less than 1 percent of that amount. For less than 1 percent, I don’t believe we should allow more crime, misery and corruption into Alabama.”
Noting that supporters of the bill claim it actually restricts gambling in the state, Riley said, “If supporters of this bill really believe gambling is so good for Alabama, then why does their bill say it will restrict gambling? It’s because deep down, they know the truth: gambling might make casino operators into multimillionaires, but it hurts people, families and our communities.
“It brings with it more misery, more crime and more corruption,” he said. “Alabamians know this and that’s why every time the people have had a chance to vote on gambling, they’ve rejected it.”
Riley established the Governor’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling in late 2008. The task force’s purpose is to get a case before the supreme court that defines what bingo really is and whether the machines being used to play “bingo” in some areas are actually slot machines, which are illegal in the state.
Rep. David Grimes, R-Montgomery, believes in the task force and wants to wait for its findings before making any type of decision on gambling issues in the state.
“My problem is with the taxation. I want taxation but at the proper time,” he said. “I’m waiting on the governor’s task force (to finalize its research and see what comes of it).”
Grimes said he has committed “so far” to vote “no” on the BIR (see page 6 for explanation of BIR) if this bill comes to the House floor.
But Rep. James Buskey, D-Mobile, said he is excited about the possibilities with the proposed legislation.
“I will be for that (bill) … to have a statewide commission … and the taxes,” he said. “This is the choice that should have been long developed. … I’m going to vote for it unless there is something terrible in the details.”
Rep. Lea Fite, D-Calhoun, said there is something terrible in the details for him — it includes Calhoun County.
He’s prepared to fight the legislation if Calhoun County is not removed from the list of counties included in the bill, he noted.
“We have high-stakes bingo in Calhoun County, but it is card bingo,” Fite said, noting he has an amendment prepared to propose for the bill.
The bill will have to go through the Tourism and Travel Committee in the House and he is a member of that committee.
“I’ve already told [the other legislators on the committee] that if they oppose me and override the amendment and this bill makes it to the floor, then I’m going to filibuster the bill till the cows come in.”
At press time, public hearings were scheduled on these bills for March 11.
For more information on this legislation and other gambling-related issues in the state, watch future issues of The Alabama Baptist and visit www.thealabamabaptist.org.
This article is reprinted from the March 12, 2009, issue of The Alabama Baptist, the newspaper of the Alabama Baptist State Convention.
Further Learning
Learn more about: Family, Addictions, Gambling, Citizenship, Legislation