By Bob Howell – WSFA 12 News Anchor – Montgomery, AL

The White Hall Gaming Center in Lowndes County coluntarily shut its doors today.  Attorney Collins Pettaway initially said the center closed for “computer upgrades.”  Later, another attorney for the Whitehall Entertainment Center, bobby Segal, said the business closed to avoid another raid by the Governor’s Illegal Gambling Task Force.

Victoryland’s gaming center closed last night, too.  It’s owner, Milton McGregor says it was to upgrade the “point of sale” computer system…essentially electronic cash registers…in the center.  McGregor says it had nothing to do with altering the gaming machines. 

The attorney for Whitehall, Collins Pettaway said the shutdown means about 200 people are unemployed until the center re-opens. Pettaway gave no indication as to when that may happen.

In Tuskegee, Macon County residents rallied in support of Victoryland.  County commissioners claim their services would be cut by nearly a third if Victoryland closes permanently.

The matter should be clarified to a degree when the Alabama Supreme Court rules on Victoryland’s request that a circuit court restraining order is upheld by the high court.  That restraining order stopped a raid by the governor’s Illegal Gambling Task Force.  The Supreme Court is expected to rule tomorrow (Wed 2/3).

The Task Force was poised to raid Victoryland on January 29th…but stopped when presented with the judge’s restraining order.  The Task Force was set to raid Country Crossing gaming center in Dothan that same night…but the owners shut down before the raid started.  That, according to Country Crossing’s attorneys, forced the state to get a search warrant to complete their mission.

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