Mike Hubbard on bingo: Legalizing casinos would be bad bet for Alabama

Before we can begin to discuss what approach Alabama should take toward gambling within its borders, we must first establish some basic facts.

To begin, the devices that have produced so many negative television ads, newspaper headlines and much rancorous debate on the floor of the Alabama State Senate are not “electronic bingo machines.” They are purely and simply Las Vegas-style slot machines that operate and pay-out just like thousands of identical machines in the gambling capitals of the worlds.

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled as much in a recent decision that laid out 12 criteria that must be met before a game may be considered bingo, and the machines in question fall far short. Common sense will tell anyone who played bingo as a grade school child that these games are not the one we came to know growing up. Just ask yourself how many times it took you four seconds to play a full game of bingo, which is basically all these machines allow.

The second fact that we must accept is that these machines are currently illegal in Alabama under our state constitution and under established statute.

Because of the way they operate, the machines should be Class III devices, which are prohibited within the state. Those that offer them to the public are clearly breaking the law.

These and other facts led to the State Senate’s decision this week not to consider legislation that could legalize slot machine operations in Alabama.

Though 21 votes were needed to bring the matter before the body, pro-gambling forces could muster only 18 of the needed votes.

Some opponents to the bill expressed concern that several casinos operating in Alabama until Gov. Bob Riley’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling forced them to shutter, chain and padlock their doors would have been grandfathered in under provisions within the legislation.

This measure, in effect, rewarded those already breaking the law with lifetime monopolies that reap a handful of gambling kingpins millions, if not billions, of dollars.

Those dollars could then be funneled into campaigns and elections to elect sympathetic public officials who would turn a blind eye to the actions of the casinos and their gambling operations. We would be turning the governance of the state over to the gambling interests, which is a scary thought, indeed.

Other opponents to the bill feared that legalizing Vegas-style gambling in Alabama would breed graft and corruption throughout government of all levels. On the very day of the Senate vote, the Birmingham News disclosed that the city’s disgraced former mayor, Larry Langford, reportedly won 555 jackpots totaling $1.5 million over three years at electronic bingo casinos in Macon and Greene counties.

Such a winning streak makes Langford either the luckiest or the most corrupt public official in Alabama, and considering his multiple felony convictions on soliciting and receiving bribes, the latter is the most likely case.

The revelation originally appeared in an on-going lawsuit alleging that Langford, and possibly other public officials, were purposely steered to play certain machines that were rigged to pay generous and frequent jackpots. At the time these alleged actions took place, gambling interests were working to open a casino in or near Birmingham, where Langford presided as mayor.

Conversely, supporters of the bill point to the financial benefits of taxing legalized gambling, but the bill they proposed taxed slot machine revenues far below the national standard and the amount expected to be collected falls far short of the state’s needs.

The cyclical nature of gambling taxes, as evidenced by the projected $3 billion shortfall that Nevada will face next year, makes it unwise for Alabama to pin its hopes on such rollercoaster revenues.
Other supporters claim that Indian casinos on reservations across the state will continue to offer electronic gambling even if it is outlawed in the rest of Alabama.

Those claims are simply not true because Alabama’s lack of an Indian gaming compact means that once games are determined to be illegal across the state, they are also prohibited on tribal lands.
All of these facts and events discussed above make one conclusion crystal clear legalizing Vegas-style casinos is a bad bet for Alabama.

Rep. Mike Hubbard (R-Auburn) represents House District 79 in the Alabama House of Representatives and is the House Minority Leader. He also serves as Chairman of the Alabama
Republican Party.