MONTGOMERY — Electronic bingo machines at the state’s largest casino are silent as Macon County officials and the governor’s gambling task force start a new legal battle over whether the task force can raid VictoryLand and seize the machines.

Attorneys for Macon County’s sheriff, district attorney and a group of VictoryLand supporters met Friday’s deadline to ask the Alabama Supreme Court to reconsider its July 30 ruling that cleared the way for the task force to raid the casino.

No raid has occurred because a Macon County judge blocked any action until the Supreme Court’s ruling is final. An attorney for VictoryLand supporters, John Bolton, says that won’t happen until the justices rule on Friday’s request, which could take days or weeks.

VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor shut down his machines Monday to prevent a raid. VictoryLand’s dog track is operating, but the entrances to its 6,000-machine casino are walled off.

Parking close to the Macon County courthouse usually is not a problem. When I arrived for last Thursday morning’s hearing in Judge Tom Young’s courtroom, the closest spot I could find was three blocks away.

As I made my way through the throng of people who had arrived before I did, their signs and faces told the story of what was at stake. Based on the crowds, I began to doubt I would be able to get inside at all, but when I said I was a lawyer for Victoryland, the sea of humanity parted and propelled me into the courtroom.

As I passed through, people reached out to stop me and make sure I knew that this was about more than just a game. Livelihoods and families were at stake.

Judge Young soon took the bench, and the hearing began. After Mr. Tyson and the lawyers for the other parties spoke, it was Mr. Fred Gray’s turn to speak. I expect that what followed is what all of us in attendance will remember about the hearing for the rest of our lives.

In about 20 minutes, Mr. Gray used his voice to illustrate the importance of where we were and why we were all there. He spoke of a time when, in the same courtroom 50 years ago, he and others fought fierce battles to gain rights that today seem so obvious and basic. As he spoke, you could see on the faces of those in the audience the realization of what was really at stake.

Electronic bingo may be merely a game, but this was about so much more.

Mr. Gray reiterated the fact that not one court in this state has declared the bingo machines at Victoryland to be illegal, and commended the judge for having the courage to follow the law. He detailed the benefits that flow from electronic bingo at Victoryland, from tax revenues and fees to jobs and charity contributions. To Mr. Gray, it is clear that the citizens of Macon County will lose if electronic bingo is shut down. And it is equally clear to him who will win: the Indians, and the governor.

Mr. Gray closed with these words: “Regardless of what other good things this governor may have done, he’s not going to be remembered for it. He’s going to be remembered as the governor who put folks out of jobs, who closed down bingo halls, and who did it for reasons best known to himself.”

Victoryland is the last stop on the governor’s quest to put electronic bingo out of business — that is, except for the operations that are running at full tilt on Indian reservations. Fifteen miles from Victoryland, the lights are flashing, bells are ringing, and the electronic bingo business flourishes.

Yes, electronic bingo is alive and well in Alabama, just not in a venue that can be taxed by our treasury or regulated by our state.

Curiously, Riley and his Task Force have remained uninterested in investigating gambling at Indian casinos. Could it be because the governor’s political campaigns have been, in part, funded by donors whose special interest was those same Indian casinos? But that’s a whole other can of worms.

One could argue that Riley’s lack of interest stems from his lack of power over the Indian reservations and their protection by federal law. You could have made the same lack-of-power argument about bingo operations in counties whose citizens had voted to pass constitutional amendments permitting them. You would have been wrong.

In a country where our three separate but equal branches of government are designed to serve as checks and balances on each other, the executive branch in essence reigns supreme. Here at home, we’re seeing the power grab play out in the governor’s mission to rid Alabama of what he perceives to be the scourge of electronic bingo. To date, neither the judicial nor the legislative branch has stepped in to check (and in some cases has advanced) what has become the nearly unfettered power of the executive.

When Gov. Riley says the “end is in sight,” his sentiment is correct on at least one front: the end is in sight for his Anti-gambling Task Force. Both of the major party candidates who are seeking to succeed Gov. Riley have vowed to disband the task force. Ron Sparks has gone so far as to say that his first action as governor will be to fire its commander, John Tyson.

While these candidates disagree on whether gambling should be legal in Alabama, they agree that the people’s voice is what should make that determination. That’s a refreshing change from our current predicament, where the “seek and destroy” mentality of one man is driving an entire state’s policy to the exclusion of the expressed will of the voters in Macon County.

Perhaps the voice of reason will not be heard until Jan. 17, 2011, the day Gov. Riley’s reign ends. Until then, it is Gov. Riley’s motivation that remains questionable.

Fred Gray was right. The people of Macon County — and ultimately every voter and taxpayer in Alabama — will suffer. This isn’t about a game anymore.

Mark White, a lawyer in Birmingham, represents Victoryland.

McGregor closed VictoryLand rather than risk a raid by Riley’s gambling task force.
“McGregor talks a big game about how his slot machines aren’t really slot machines, but when it’s time to lay his cards down on the table, he folds and runs away like a scalded dog,” Riley Communications Director Jeff Emerson said.

“These casino bosses all claim they just want their day in court, yet when it’s time to take their slot machines before a court, the casino bosses run and hide.”

Emerson said McGregor could keep his casino open and argue in court, but said McGregor won’t, ” because he knows his slot machines are illegal — absolutely 100 percent illegal.”

Riley maintains the electronic bingo machines, which resemble slot machines,  are illegal. McGregor maintains the machines are legal under a constitutional amendment allowing charity bingo in Macon County.

Read McGregor’s full statement here.

In a statement issued earlier today, McGregor said the shutdown of electronic bingo will put 600 people out of work at the facility, which has operated for almost seven years.
 
McGregor did not say how long he will keep electronic bingo operations closed but said the closure will be temporary.  Dog racing will resume on Aug. 12.

Tyson on Friday asked the Supreme Court to lift an injunction that has blocked a raid at VictoryLand. The Supreme Court had already ruled that the judge erred when he issued the order. The justices gave the Macon County district attorney and sheriff, who both oppose a raid, until 4 p.m. today to file a response with the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court last week ruled that Macon County Circuit Judge Tom Young erred in issuing the injunction and said Riley’s task force did not need the blessing of the Macon County district attorney or sheriff to raid VictoryLand. 
 
Young ruled there was no need to lift his order immediately because the Macon County district attorney and sheriff, who both oppose a raid, have 14 days to ask the Supreme Court for a rehearing. 
 
Young said he had concerns with how the Supreme Court ruled. 
 
“However, this Court would be remiss if it did not express its concerns of the slippery slope created by this Supreme Court order, wherein any governor is given unfettered power to usurp the authority of a constitutional officer duly elected by the citizens when said governor simply disagrees with the lawful methodology of that officer in performing his or her duties,” Young wrote.
 
“This court finds no provision  in our Constitution which intends to create a czar,” Young wrote.

The state’s highest court unanimously turned down a request Wednesday from task force commander John Tyson. Macon County’s sheriff and district attorney had argued that there was no emergency that warranted an immediate raid.

Tyson had turned to the Supreme Court before VictoryLand closed its electronic bingo casino Monday. Tyson says that diminished the need for immediate relief from the Supreme Court. But he says he will go back to the Supreme Court if the games reopen.

VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor plans to reopen VictoryLand’s dog track Thursday evening, but not its electronic bingo machines.

Circuit Judge Tom Young, whose jurisdiction includes Macon County, issued an order Tuesday afternoon saying he would hold the hearing Thursday to consider a motion by task force commander John Tyson. Tyson wants Young to dissolve an earlier order that had blocked the task force from raiding the casino at Shorter and confiscating more than 6,000 electronic bingo machines.

The task force considers them illegal slot machines.

Tyson contends a Supreme Court ruling last week overruled Young’s order blocking the task force from raiding Victoryland without permission of local officials.

The suit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Birmingham accuses Gov. Bob Riley and task force commander John Tyson of nullifying votes by the citizens of Macon and Greene counties to approve electronic bingo. It also accuses Riley of discriminating against African-American citizens.

The plaintiffs include members of the Greene and Macon county commissions, state Sen. Bobby Singleton and state Rep. A.J. McCampbell.

Riley’s spokesman, Jeff Emerson, said the task force has enforced gambling laws statewide and hasn’t targeted any group. He also says the suit mischaracterizes the votes because they only authorized ordinary bingo games.

Only VictoryLand in Macon County, by far the state’s largest non-Indian casino. remains open. Tyson said only an injunction imposed by a circuit judge is preventing him from raiding VictoryLand. Tyson has appealed that injunction, and that appeal has been pending before the state Supreme Court for some months.
 
Tyson said Friday he has no doubt how the high court will rule on the VictoryLand injunction.
 
“I think the writing is on the wall for VictoryLand,” Tyson said. “The Alabama Supreme Court has now said over and over in a number of opinions that circuit judges have no authority to interfere in the task force enforcing the law. That is what they just said twice in the Greenetrack case, and they removed the judge in that case, and it is what they have said in a number of other cases. I think the Alabama Supreme Court will clear the way soon when it comes to VictoryLand.”
 
And when it does, Tyson said, “I think the citizens of Alabama and the owners of VictoryLand can rest assured that we will enforce the law.”