For ONCE the B’ham News has rational conversation on gambling vote
Alabamians could be forgiven if they woke up today begging for a break on bingo. Or, rather, a break from bingo. Over the past week or so, there’s been no letup in the fight over electronic bingo: overnight raids, restraining orders, court rulings, rallies, charges, countercharges, and on, and on, and on.
Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, left, and John Tyson, commander of the Governor’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling. (AP Photo/Phillip Rawls)
By the end of the week, three of the state’s largest gambling facilities, including the gigantic VictoryLand, were closed for business, and Gov. Bob Riley’s gambling task force all but declared “mission accomplished.” But the bravado should be taken with the same grain of salt as George W. Bush’s premature victory dance over Iraq.
The legal battle over bingo is very definitely not over. Although the state Supreme Court on Thursday lifted a restraining order that had blocked a raid at VictoryLand, the core issue of what is legal and what is not remains unresolved. Separate legal cases have arisen over other gambling venues, including those in the Bessemer Cutoff in Jefferson County, which were shutting down after a court hearing Friday.
Meanwhile, the gambling dispute is playing out in the Legislature as well. Among other things, state Rep. Marcel Black, D-Tuscumbia, last week introduced the 2010 version of his perennial bill to expand, regulate and tax legalized gambling in the state. Another bill, from state Sen. Marc Keahey, D-Grove Hill, would, with a few variations, do likewise.
Which brings us to the point: It’s time for Alabamians to have a serious talk about gambling.
We got where we are through a long, twisted route. Start with a state constitution that bans gambling. Continue through a series of local exceptions, carved out county by county, for fraternal lodges and churches to have charity bingo. Follow the trail as charity bingo morphs into slot-style electronic games thanks to technological advances, actions by politicians and bold moves by gambling interests. The destination? A state whose untaxed, unregulated and unchallenged bingo industry at one point was described as the Wild West of gambling.
The issue has become an embarrassment to the state, among other things triggering open warfare between Riley and Attorney General Troy King.
King argues gambling in Alabama is a mess because the law varies from county to county, and technology outstripped old definitions of bingo.
Riley says it’s a mess because some officials, including King, refused to enforce the clear laws against slot-machine gambling. Their inaction, he says, forced him to form his own task force.
Both make valid points.
As King says, Alabama’s bingo laws do vary from one county to the next. The constitutional amendment for bingo in Greene County even specifically legalizes electronic forms of the game. Other counties have bingo amendments granting varying degrees of leeway.
But as Riley says, a number of jurisdictions ignored the local parameters as they opened the door to this kind of bingo. King is among those who must bear responsibility for a number of gambling enterprises operating at the very least in gray areas of the law.
But Riley’s task force under Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson has taken some legal leaps itself in its recent attempts to raid gambling facilities without search warrants. While in some cases raids may be absolutely appropriate, the task force can’t really treat every gambling establishment equally when the laws governing every gambling establishment are not equal.
It’s part of the dreadful fix Alabama is in with regard to bingo. Whether you support gambling or not, the rules at least need to be clear. The people of Alabama need to know, without question, what is legal and what is not.
We have hoped, and continue to hope, for a court decision that will offer the sort of clarity necessary to bring this spectacle to an end.
But an argument can also be made that, for the long term, the people of Alabama need to speak on this issue. Do we want to have this kind of gambling in our state? And if so, under what conditions? And what kind of taxes and regulation should be imposed?
Several proposals already pending in the Legislature would give Alabamians a chance to answer those questions. But the problem, this year and in years past, has been legislation crafted more with an eye toward protecting gambling interests than Alabamians’ interests.
One of this year’s proposals would impose a 20 percent tax on gross gambling revenue. Another would impose a 28 percent tax on gambling receipts. Those are not the highest rates in the country — some states impose a tax above 50 percent on gambling revenue — but they are not totally out of line, either.
The proposals would also establish a statewide regulatory commission, which, in our view, would be preferable to some of Alabama’s current practices, such as vesting a local sheriff with all powers to regulate the gambling in his county.
A bigger sticking point in the legislation involves who will get a license to run gambling facilities. The bills would grant licenses to the existing electronic bingo facilities, like those at Greenetrack, VictoryLand and Country Crossing. They would also legalize electronic bingo at other locations, including the Birmingham Race Course.
Although any legislation on gambling should limit the venues, the idea of granting what is in essence a monopoly to some — especially those like Country Crossing that opened on shaky legal premises to begin with — is troubling. A more competitive process should be considered.
Don’t misunderstand. This newspaper still believes gambling is a bad bet for the people of Alabama and the governments that would rely on its revenue. But we also believe in the concept of self-rule. If the people of Alabama want to legalize gambling, it’s a decision they should be able to make.
In the push to let the people vote, though, there must be an equal push to ensure they have a reasonable proposal to vote on. At this point, it’s not just a question of who supports gambling or not. People on all sides of the issue need to come to the table to talk.
Source: AL.COM
{Editors Note} Given the propensity of the legislature to write unclear and in many cases purposefully vague legislation it is up to the people to pressure them and Bingo Bob to actually make it tangible and in black and white so that the voters can give it an up or down and be DONE with it.