Alabama cracks down on “legal” electronic bingo
2009 June 28
One of the largest mass layoffs in recent Alabama history is to occur on Wednesday, and Montgomery itself is decreeing it, economic crisis or not.
The government is shutting down every last legal electronic bingo parlor across the land, under an antivice plan promoted by Bob Riley that as recently as a few months ago was widely perceived as far-fetched. But the result will be thousands of people thrown out of work.
Make sure you read the article as it might change what you’re thinking right now.
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Great comparison. Right-wing moralists and left-wing liberals both want to control us–just in different ways.
Yet, for some reason, the gaming proponents in Alabama are not providing this sort of information. They could be circulating reports showing current employment, average wages, economic impact, detailed charitable donations, etc but instead send their time rent seeking.
If it’s “legal”, the Governor can’t shut it down. The legal question is whether or not they’re slot machines. If they’re slot machines, they’re inllegal. Governor Riley wants to get a case to the Supreme Court as quickly as possible to get a ruling, on the existing law.
I believe that it is important to get a clear ruling on the current law, one way or the other, as expeditiously as possible. Then we can have an excellent starting place for the “where do we go from here? debate. For some reason, the Attorney General and others are trying to delay the process.
Oops. I forgot to proofread my previous comment, if they’re slot machines, they’re illegal.
A very flawed comparison. Slot machines are not legal in Alabama and never have been. Bingo is legal, but if you’re playing one of these slot machines you’re not playing bingo. How can you play bingo in 6 seconds by pressing 1 button? You can’t.
Hi “Real Tim”
I believe the difference is that the electronic “bingo” machines are set up in a series of interconnected machines where there has to be a winner. A slot machine is independant in and of itself and pays back only a percentage of what it takes in as jackpots. I could be wrong, but that is my understanding of the difference. I guess the question of their legality would be if they are interconnected in a series (and how many need to be connected in the series) or not.