Birmingham attorney J. Mark White echoes his client, Milton McGregor’s commercial, saying “come join us.”

White says the legal brouhaha brought on by the Governor’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling is bogus.

“They know Victoryland is legal…. they understand the only way to come in and take the equipment is for them to act in an illegal manner,” White says.

White’s comments come ahead of a 5pm deadline with the Alabama Supreme Court to file briefs concerning the government’s appeal of Friday’s temporary restraining order that blocked a state raid of Victoryland. The task force attorneys must respond by 5pm tomorrow.

White also points beyond the legal battle where many observers give them a better chance at success… the legislature.

“Unless we get a statewide regulation of gaming you are going to have a situation where the citizens of Alabama get no revenue, no benefit,” he says.

“Its really like a law school exam,” former federal magistrate John Carroll says.

“Is there probable cause to believe these machines violate the law.”

The current dean of Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law says “we’re in this very, very interesting situation where we have all these different ordinances and all these different authorities and government is trying to shut down gambling operations and the courts are in the middle of it.”

While the Victoryland case goes before the state supreme court, Houston county’s Country Crossing focuses on a request before a federal judge today. Add to the confusion in Jefferson county, where an ordinance for the city of Midfield starts today allowing electronic bingo. The cash-strapped city hopes to bring in as much as $150,000 monthly in revenue from the ordinance.

Watch the full interview with White and Judge Carroll here.

Rick Journey

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