“No one is above the law and today’s ruling from the Supreme Court reaffirms this basic principle of our state and our nation.  By removing Judge Hardaway from this case, our highest court has sent a message out loud and clear:  no longer can casinos in this state run to their favorite local judges to try and stop law enforcement officers from enforcing the law.”

Riley’s office added: 

“Upon today’s lifting of the injunction, the Task Force discovered that Greenetrack’s slot machines had been emptied of all their cash during the time Judge Hardaway’s illegal orders were in effect. This shows why the casino bosses pushed Judge Hardaway to issue those injunctions even though they knew they were illegal. The casino bosses wanted to abscond with the hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash these illegal machines had already taken from hard-working Alabamians.”

We have a similar situation at Greenetrack where the sheriff and district attorney have warned of violence if Greenetrack is raided. The clear implication is that officials may not be willing or able protect the task force and state troopers from local citizens who may get violent.

So, on the one hand you have Governor Bob Riley who believes gambling laws are being broken and that neither the state attorney general nor local officials in the two counties will enforce the law. On the other hand, those officials assert there are no violations and that the governor has no constitutional power to intervene.

It’s a standoff the likes of which we have not seen in Alabama in a very long time. Historian Wayne Flynt told me it is similar to what happened when federal and state agents tried to enforce moonshine laws and when the Confederacy tried to draft soldiers into the army.  In some counties local officials stood with their local citizens against the forces of the state.

What do you think will happen next? How do you think it should be resolved?

Clarification on an earlier post:

Victoryland owner Milton McGregor asked for a clarification on the closing of the gaming center at the facility in Macon County.  He says the computers being upgraded are not those that operate the electronic bingo machines. He says they are part of the “point of sale” system for transactions throughout the complex including the hotel, lounges and restaurants.   

As for the bingo machine, McGregor insists that all his machines have already been made compliant with an Alabama Supreme Court ruling last year that set out the legal definition of bingo.  He says the machines have been certified by Gaming Laboratories International.

The Governor’s Illegal Gambling Task Force is set to submit its response to Victoryland’s filing yesterday as to why a circuit court’s restraining order stopping a raid on Victoryland should be upheld.

An attorney representing economic development in Houston County and  the developer of Country Crossing entertainment venue react to Federal Judge Myron Thompson’s refusal to hear a request for a restraining order to stop Illegal Gambling Task Force raid.  Here’s the full statement.

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Statement from Country Crossing Regarding Federal Ruling – February 1, 2010 

Today, Judge Thompson asked both parties to resolve their issues in a state court declaratory action. This is a process that we have already begun, and we expect that the state court will hold that our bingo operations are legal and in full compliance with the law. It is clear that the federal judge wants the parties to resolve their dispute in state court before seeking relief in federal court.  

It remains to be seen whether Mr. Tyson will participate in the civil declaratory judgment action, notwithstanding the federal court’s admonition that he do so. We agree that these issues should be decided without the drama that the task force has engaged in so far, and we look forward to the resolution of this matter in the orderly process that the federal judge suggests. 

We note that the federal judge acknowledged that our constitutional entitlement to relief is not clear on the current record, which clearly does not discount the possibility that such relief may be appropriate in the future. 

We believe that if Mr. Tyson does not follow the federal judge’s instructions to resolve this matter orderly, we may be asking the federal judge for relief again in the future – particularly if our constitutional rights cannot be safeguarded in state court. But, we fully intend to honor the federal judge’s request that we first exhaust all attempts to resolve this matter in state court.

Will Matthews – Attorney,  Houston Economic Development Association

Ronnie Gilley – Developer, Country Crossing

Here in the WSFA 12 Newsroom, we got the first hint that something was up at Victoryland/Quincy’s 777 early on the evening of Thursday January 29th.  A raid on the state’s largest bingo operation?  Nah.  The Illegal Gambling Task Force had its Supreme Court test case in Lowndes County without taking on Milton McGregor and his attorneys….and a carefully crafted local constitutional amendment saying his bingo is legal.  But the Task Force also had a new, aggressive, hard-nosed, veteran prosecutor – John Tyson.

In the words of Gomer Pyle: “Surprise, surprise, surprise!”

Dozens of State Trooper cars arrived en masse in the middle of the night, ordering patrons to cash out and get out.  But that’s about as far as the raid got.  McGregor was a step ahead of the Task Force.  He was armed with a restraining order which stopped the Troopers dead in their tracks…for now.  Back to Macon County in a moment.

About 120 miles to the south in Houston County, agents moved in on the Country Crossing entertainment center and it’s new bingo pavilion.  They were turned away there, too.  Not by a court order, but some logging chain and a few padlocks around the entrances to the building.  The owners new the Task Force was coming and shut down before the cops could rush the place.  Ronnie Gilley’s lawyers told him it would take a search warrant for the agents to go inside…and they didn’t have one.  Foiled again.

But not so fast.

Within hours of being turned away at the door, Task Force Commander John Tyson was back before the Alabama Supreme Court asking for them to dissolve the restraining order and let the raid begin.  But by midday and into the afternoon, no word from the Court.  Then late in the day, word that the Court had told McGregor’s lawyers to give them all the reasons why the Task Force shouldn’t raid the place…no later than 5 p.m. Monday, February 1st. The Court gave the Task Force until 5 p.m. on Tuesday, February 2nd to answer Victoryland’s filing. 

The Court is expected to have its decision as early as Wednesday, February 3rd. 

So what are the odds the nine justices will turn away the raid?  If you base your answer on their recent decisions regarding electronic bingo, my money’s on the Task Force.  The key element here is the Cornerstone case….the company that built the bingo operation in Whitehall in Lowndes County. State agents shut Whitehall down last year.  The Task Force had the element of surprise on its side back then.  Employees were caught completely off guard as the agents hurriedly ran into the building.  Many of the officers had their weapons drawn….leaving unsuspecting custodians, office workers and security people to do little more than raise their hands and do as they were told.

It was the Cornerstone case that resulted in the Court defining bingo in Alabama.  The justices decided the game is played on a car with a grid of five rows intersecting with five columns…numbers are called one at a time…just like the game you played as a kid. 

The likelihood of a raid at Victoryland increased with a new Alabama Supreme Court ruling released the day of the aborted raids.  In that case, the Court ruled that electronic bingo approved by the Asheville City Council in 2008 violated state law.  The sheriff in St. Clair County had resisted efforts to open bingo operations and had called the governor for help in defeating the plan.  Today, the Court put another legal stake in the heart of electronic bingo with this decision.

What makes you think it will be any different in Macon County?

Before we back the moving vans up to Victoryland’s front door and start loading up the bingo machines, it should be noted that the local constitutional amendment that authorized electronic bingo in Macon County is believed to be more finely crafted than some of the others.  At least one lawyer we talked with says that may be a factor.

Meanwhile in Montgomery…

With the attempted raid, the icy relations between Governor Bob Riley and his one-time friend Attorney General Troy King took a turn for the worse.  The AG politely send a written warning to the governor to consider the consequences of his actions.  The governor fired back that King appeared to be more concerned about the gambling bosses and changing the law…than enforcing what’s on the books. (You can read both their epistles on wsfa.com)

So what’s next?

Anybody’s bet! But right now, I think the money in Vegas would be on the Task Force….but don’t ever count out anybody like Milton McGregor who has hundreds of millions of dollars on the line.

Who is your money on? 

in an opinion released today, the Alabama Supreme Court says electronic bingo is illegal in St. Clair County.  The governor’s Illegal Gambling Task Force had assisted St. Clair County’s sheriff who had resisted attempts to open a bingo operation.  Here is the governor’s reaction to the latest Alabama Supreme Court ruling:

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From Governor Bob Riley’s Press Office:

The Alabama Supreme Court today issued an opinion that again makes clear that the so-called “electronic bingo” machines being used by casino bosses across the State are illegal.  

In a follow-up to its November opinion that identified six elements that are required for legal bingo, the Court today made clear that “human interaction in playing the game” must be present for a game to qualify as bingo.  In other words, a machine cannot play the game of bingo for a person.  Specifically, the Court held that bingo requires a player “(1) to pay attention to the numbers or designations announced, (2) to physically act to determine and then to mark whether they have a matching number or symbol, [and] (3) to recognize that they have a winning card and be the first to announce this fact.”  If the game is not one where the player could lose by making mistakes in marking his card, then it is not bingo according to the Court.   

Although the case arose out of St. Clair County, the decision on the meaning of “bingo” applies statewide.  Even though there are different constitutional amendments pertaining to bingo for various counties, the Supreme Court has already ruled that “bingo” means the same thing in all the amendments. 

“None of the slot machines being used at casinos in Alabama comes anywhere close to meeting this definition of bingo,” said Governor Bob Riley.  “A person could play these machines blind-folded and still win.  Although the previous court decisions were crystal clear that the machines are illegal, this decision absolutely slams the door shut on any argument that these slot machines qualify as bingo.” 

“The Court’s decision is hardly a surprise.  Anyone with any common sense knows that these slot machines are not bingo.  Law enforcement officials across the State cannot turn their heads any longer to the illegal activity that is occurring,” said Governor Riley.  “The gambling bosses have run out of excuses, and these slot-machine casinos must be shut down.”

Governor Riley picks a law and order crusader to be his new Illegal Gambling Task Force Commander – replacing former commander David Barber – who resigned after admitting he won $2,300 in a Mississippi casino.  Here’s the release from the Governor’s office…check out the links in the story for more.

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Governor Bob Riley on Monday announced he has appointed Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson to serve as commander of the Task Force on Illegal Gambling. The announcement took place Monday morning at the State Capitol. 

Tyson was appointed to the position of Mobile County DA in 1994 by Governor Jim Folsom and was elected to continue his service as DA in 1998 and 2004.

 Click here to view Governor Riley’s remarks and click here to view District Attorney Tyson’s remarks made at the announcement.

Governor Bob Riley has accepted the resignation of his Illegal Gambling Task force commander David Barber after he won a big payoff at a Mississippi casino.  Here’s the brief statement from the Governor’s Office and an excerpt from Barber’s resignation letter.

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MONTGOMERY – Governor Bob Riley has accepted the resignation of David Barber as commander of the Task Force on Illegal Gambling. Mr. Barber’s resignation is effective upon the appointment of a successor to the position.

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In his letter of resignation addressed to Gov. Bob Riley, Barber writes that he won $2,300 on a legal game at a Mississippi casino during a recent visit.  Barber writes that he felt like “forces that operate illegal casinos in Alabama will focus on my actions as part of their continuing effort to smear you and your Task Force.  The work of the Task Force is too important to allow it to be impeded by such distractions.”

Click here to read the letter from Gov. Riley.