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Bingo Bill Short On Votes To Pass Alabama House

Posted on April 24th, 2010

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Due to insufficiency of votes, a bill on electronic bingo was pulled from consideration and the Alabama legislature ended its session on April 21 without the House of Representatives voting on the bingo bill that had earlier passed the Senate by a narrow margin.

Rep. Marcel Black, D-Tuscumbia, the bill’s House sponsor said he didn’t have the 63 votes needed to pass the bill which was a proposed constitutional amendment requiring a voter referendum, that would regulate and tax Alabama’s estimated $2 billion electronic bingo industry.

It would have authorized the creation of a commission that would lay down regulations for the operation of the electronic devices, putting a stop to the raids of bingo halls and casinos by the governor’s task force on illegal gambling. Gov. Bob Riley’s administration views electronic bingo machines as slot machines which are illegal in Alabama and which should be confiscated.

The controversial bill had set off an investigation from federal agents who talked to legislative leaders and looked into their attempts to pass the bill. Democratic Sen. Roger Bedford of Russellville, the Senate’s sponsor, said the bill’s demise, which was due to opposition from the governor, would be a boon to casinos in Mississippi and to Indian-run bingo casinos in Alabama which the state has no control over. “It’s unfortunate the governor and Republicans cut backroom deals with the Mississippi casinos not to let the people of Alabama vote on this,” Bedford said at a press conference.

But Riley retorted by saying, “That is as absurd as anything could possibly be. They lost for one reason: members of the House read the bill, once they read the bill, they understood the level of corruption that was in that bill and they were not going to have anything to do with it.” Riley said the bill would still have failed to solve the confusion over the current jumble of different local decrees as it did not require a specific vote on making electronic bingo legal or illegal. “If they voted against it, we are right back where we are today,” Riley said.
Bedford opposed and said, “The Supreme Court would have seen that as a clear mandate from the people of Alabama, and they would have outlawed electronic bingo.” Country Crossing casino in Dothan, said through its spokesman Jay Walker, “It is a sad day and a travesty for so many in this state when an incredible opportunity and the people’s right to vote on the issue of electronic bingo was killed.” Country Crossing, which has 1,700 bingo machines, has shut down for months to avoid the raids, and Walker said it is looking for ways to reopen and may relocate to another state.