Big, Bad and All About Bingo!
Posts tagged Alabama
Bingo Group Seeks Rule Change
0The problematic charity bingo issue will return to Decatur City Hall next month, and this time one of the non-profit groups that offers local bingo will seek a rule change that could reduce funding to some area charities.
According to General Services Director Wally Terry, members of the Disabled American Veterans will address the mayor and City Council on Jan. 12 regarding the controversial 51-49 rule in the city’s bingo ordinance.
The veterans’ group is expected to seek relief from the rule that has since 2001 required charity bingo providers to contribute at least 51 percent of their gaming proceeds to charities outside their own organizations.
According to DAV Commander Wayne Horton, the rule places a financial hardship on the group since operators can only deduct bingo-related expenses like game sheets and prizes before dividing the revenues. It does not allow them to deduct more costly expenses like utilities and rent payments for bingo facilities, forcing providers to take those expenses from their 49-percent share.
With local bingo revenues declining overall due to the national economic downturn, Horton said, the group’s 49-percent share is no longer enough, and DAV members have been forced to pay out of pocket to cover utility and insurance expenses for their building.
“We just can’t make it financially the way the rules are set up,” he said. “We’ve already had to stop providing transportation for veterans to get to their doctors appointments, and that’s really pretty sad.”
But while a rule change would likely allow the DAV, which uses bingo as its sole source of revenue, to continue operating, it would also mean a reduction in the group’s donations to outside charities.
The DAV gave roughly $39,000 to outside entities last year, making contributions to local ROTC programs, providing scholarships to Calhoun Community College and making donations to groups like Hospice of the Valley.
While Horton admits those contribution levels will likely fall if the council approves a rule change, he said the alternative is even less appealing because the DAV would be forced to stop functioning entirely.
“Yes, the amount that we will be donating will be less, but if we don’t get something done, the amount that we donate will be zero,” he said.
Horton said the rule also prevents the DAV from providing veteran-aid services to its own members.
It was not clear Wednesday how the council will react to the anticipated request. Council President Gary Hammon said he is at least open to hearing the request, but he wants more information on what other cities do before making a decision.
“I don’t see any sense in reinventing the wheel,” he said. “But I’m certainly willing to adopt what other towns are doing as long as we can keep out electronic bingo and keep it for charity.”
If Hammon’s test applies for the rest of the council, a rule change would be likely. Two area municipalities that allow bingo – Hartselle and Huntsville – have codes that require gaming proceeds be used for charitable or educational purposes, but they have no rules that require bingo proceeds go to charities outside the host organization.
Additionally, the current administration has historically been receptive to requests from local bingo providers. When operators requested the council’s assistance last year to lift the countywide ban on advertising for bingo games, the council unanimously requested state legislative assistance.
That request eventually garnered a legislative amendment enabling the council to lift the ban. The council was set implement that change Jan. 3 — along with a new definition of bingo intended to keep electronic bingo halls out of the city — but Hammon delayed that vote when local veterans spoke out about the 51-49 rule during a work session last week.
In addition to the DAV, another charity bingo operator spoke out against the 51-49 rule this week. Questioned by The Daily, Tony Weikert of the Morgan County Rescue Squad said his group would have ceased its bingo program months ago had the local Shrine Club, which it shares bingo proceeds with, not agreed to reduce the rent the squad pays for a facility to host bingo games.
“The 49 percent doesn’t leave enough for you to pay your expenses and have the profitability to where it makes sense to do it,” he said.
Controversy over the 51-49 rule started in February when the city’s bingo committee reported that two bingo operators — the Elks Lodge and the Veterans of Foreign Wars — failed to donate the required 51 percent to outside charities.
The original article appeared here.
Bingo probe indictments may shift power in Montgomery
1This article originally ran on the AL.com website. The original article can be seen here.
The indictment of 11 people, including four sitting state senators, in a federal probe of gambling legislation will set off waves of negative campaign advertising and could change the balance of power in Montgomery, political experts said Monday.
While it won’t be clear what it all means until the votes are cast Nov. 2, it’s certain that it will affect the election, and it’s likely the Democrats have the most to lose, they said.
“This is a big deal. This is a blockbuster development,” said Glen Browder, a former Democratic congressman and an emeritus associate professor of political science at Jacksonville State University. “Coming one month before the election, this has to play into that election.”
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ron Sparks has made acceptance of gambling his “prize issue,” said Bill Stewart, the retired head of the political science department at the University of Alabama. Undecided voters may now associate gambling with corruption, and lean toward Republican candidate Robert Bentley, he said.
Republicans likely will try to nudge voters toward that conclusion, launching campaign ads that paint Democrats in general as corrupt, said Brad Moody, an associate professor of political science at Auburn University at Montgomery.
In the fight over control of the Legislature, the impact of the indictments is less clear.
The four state senators indicted in the probe include two Democrats, one Republican and an independent. But, in the fence-hopping tradition of Alabama politics, the Republican used to be a Democrat and the independent used to be a Republican.
Democrats have the most to lose because voters are mad, Browder said, and mad voters tend to take out their anger on whoever is in power. Democrats control the Alabama Senate by a 20-14-1 margin, and the House 65-40.
“It will be utilized as an attack on the establishment, and the establishment is the Democrats,” Browder said. “It will make control of the Legislature much more iffy. It’s something the Democrats have to be concerned about, even though the Democratic party did nothing wrong in this case.”
Moody reached the same conclusion, though not necessarily for the same reasons. Of the seats held by senators facing charges, only one is seriously at risk of switching parties, and it is held by a Democrat, he said. If that seat were to go Republican, it would amount to a two-seat swing in a Senate where the Democrats hold a six-seat advantage.
Possible implications, seat-by-seat, according to Moody:
Sen. Harri Anne H. Smith, 48, I-Slocomb, faces conspiracy, bribery, extortion, fraud and money laundering charges. A former Republican who is running as an independent after being pushed off the ballot by the GOP for endorsing a Democrat, Smith faces an uphill battle as an independent. The worst the Democrats can do here, Moody said, is not win a seat they didn’t have to begin with. It’s likely to stay in Republican hands.
Sen. Quinton T. Ross Jr., 41, D-Montgomery, faces charges of conspiracy, bribery, attempted extortion and fraud. Ross was running unopposed. “He will be re-elected,” Moody said.
Sen. James E. Preuitt, 75, R-Talladega, faces charges of conspiracy, bribery, attempted extortion, fraud and making a false statement.
Preuitt had already dropped out of the race, and so the GOP likely will keep this seat, Moody said.
Sen. Larry P. Means, 63, D-Attalla, faces charges of conspiracy, bribery, attempted extortion and fraud. The indictment could make a difference in this race, Moody said.
The Alabama Democratic Party on Monday criticized the U.S. Department of Justice for the timing of the indictments, saying they may indeed influence voters.
“The Alabama Democratic Party is greatly concerned by the timing of these arrests and their possible collateral influence on voters only four weeks out of a major election,” the party said in a prepared statement. “These indictments were sealed and these arrests could have been made after the November 2nd election, because under Alabama law, any person convicted of a felony cannot serve.”
In Washington, prosecutors defending their timing.
“In a case like this, we had to go with where the facts and the law were and we had to make the decision at the appropriate time and that’s 100 percent what dictated the timing on this case irrespective of whether an election may or may not occur,” said Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer.
Breuer also defended the decision to alert the Alabama Legislature of the investigation in March, before the House voted on the gaming legislation.
“We take absolutely no position whatsoever about the substance of the legislation. We couldn’t care less about the substance,” Breuer said. “After the Senate voted back in the end of March of this year, we notified the state Legislature of our investigation because we thought they were entitled to know about it, so they could decide to do whatever they wanted to do. So that’s when we went overt.”
Washington correspondent Mary Orndorff contributed to this report.
Join the conversation by clicking to comment or e-mail Diel at sdiel@bhamnews.com
Editor’s note: The date of the election is Nov. 2. This article has been corrected.
Paper bingo still a big draw at Piedmont hall
0This article was originally posted on The Birmingham News website. You can click on the link to read the article on the website if you would like.
Paper bingo still a big draw at Piedmont hall
By VERONICA KENNEDY The Birmingham News
The 80,000-square-foot building is quiet as a library, despite the 400 or so people seated at long rows of folding banquet tables, squares of paper spread out in front of them and an arsenal of ink daubers at hand.
A baritone voice calling out letter-and-number combinations pierces the silence with a slow rhythm.
A light blue smoke hangs in the air. Bingo – the old-fashioned paper variety – and cigarettes seem to go together.
Welcome to Piedmont Bingo, the center of activity on a hot summer Saturday in this northeast Alabama town, where buses, vans and cars bring bingo players from throughout the Southeast.
It may not seem like a destination to most people, but for some gaming enthusiasts, the bingo hall is the place to be on any given Saturday. This is among the largest paper bingo game sites in the Southeast, according to Fred Warner, Piedmont Bingo’s manager. The hall, which is only open on Saturdays throughout the year from 2 until about midnight, can seat about 3,000 players comfortably, Warner said. On occasion, the crowd has swelled to 2,000.
On Saturday, five buses and several vans brought about 300 people from cities in Georgia. Another 100 or so drove from nearby towns. All were intent on winning.
The $40 buy-in got each person 18 cards. As the night progressed, cash prizes would be awarded in amounts ranging from $700 to $3,500. By the end of the evening, a total of $19,000 would be handed out, as it is every week, according to Warner.
Don’t be fooled: It’s gambling, but it’s the kind of gambling that is allowed in Alabama. The hall operates under the requirements of state law, which allows paper bingo for charity, and the local laws in Piedmont and Calhoun County.
“This is a good, clean business,” Warner said. “It just has to be run right.”
The snack bar offers fried chicken, burgers and sandwiches. What you won’t find: beer, wine or other alcoholic beverages.
Clearly, the people in the hall are serious when it comes to the game. The silence in the cavernous hall is broken only by the caller and the occasional shout of a winner. After a minute or so of chatter, silence falls again.
Piedmont Bingo is run by Chapter 502 of Vietnam Veterans of America, based in Anniston. The 25 people who regularly work there on Saturdays are said to be volunteers. Some cook, some call, some walk the floor to assist players.
“The Vietnam Veterans local chapter gets 10 percent of the gross – that’s off the top before any prizes, any expenses,” Warner said. “Then, the city gets $4 per person who comes in. Of that, $2 goes to the city and $2 goes to Piedmont City Schools.”
That means on any given week, the veterans group will receive a minimum of $1,600 while the city and schools will get $800 each. Over a year’s time, that adds up to more than $83,000 for VVA and more than $41,000 each for the city and the city schools, based on an average weekly attendance of 400.
Throughout the evening, players buy more cards at a fee of $1 for three. That money also goes into the coffer. Whatever money is left over is used by the local VVA chapter for expenses, such as rent and utilities, supplies and prizes.
There has been no noticeable increase in attendance since electronic bingo halls were shut down across the state, said Warner, who would like to add electronic bingo to the mix in Piedmont.
But he knows he still would have to offer the paper option since regulars like Richard Dodd of Rome, Ga., simply don’t like the electronic version.
“We enjoy the paper bingo,” Dodd said. “I’ve played the machines, and I don’t like it. Paper is easier to keep up with; I would probably quit coming if it went to the machines.”
Dodd, 75, and his wife, Nancy, 69, take a van to Piedmont almost every Saturday. On this day, neither of the Dodds has won a game, but they say they’ve tallied up more than $12,000 in winnings since playing at the hall.
Nancy Dodd said they usually spend about $100 every week.
Another regular visitor is Constance Wilson, 52, a nurse who lives and works in Villa Rica, Ga. She is a native of Birmingham and said she enjoys electronic bingo but she prefers the paper version. She rides the bus to Piedmont almost every week.
“I’ve been coming here about three years,” Wilson said. “Some friends told me about this place, and I’ve been on the bus ever since. This is very good bingo.”
Wilson said she spends $200 to $300 every week, and she wins enough to make her happy.
A casual observer can tell that most players are in the retired category. Warner said most of the hall’s clients are on a fixed income, and Nancy Dodd said the number of players dwindles from the beginning of the month to the end.
Warner said the hall has felt the effects of a weak economy, rising gasoline prices and the increase in popularity of electronic bingo. He said the hall would do better all around if electronic bingo were added.
“It doesn’t make any sense at all for Alabama to not have legalized gambling,” Warner said. “There are 39 states with legalized gambling. If gaming is regulated properly, everybody’s situation improves.”
Former Bingo Hall Gets Makeover as Church
0This article was originally posted on the CBS42.com website. Click the link below for the original article.
Former Bingo Hall Gets Makeover as Church.
JASPER-The state’s crackdown on illegal gambling has caused a lot of empty buildings to stand in place of the thriving bingo halls that once lined US Hwy 78 in Walker County.
While several of them stand blank with weeds growing in their parking lots, at least one former bingo hall in Jasper is getting a new, and perhaps unexpected, makeover.
It’s now a church.
“Most people in the community think it’s about bingo. But for us, it’s about revival,” said James Gardner, pastor of Jasper Christian Center.
Gardner said his church has been in the same small storefront for more than 20 years.
With his congregation growing, he and his wife were on the lookout for a bigger space to worship.
“We started driving up and down the road. We saw a for rent sign on this one, so we leased it for a few years so we can grow,” he said.
The church began holding services in the building a few months ago, while members were still painting over the black walls and cleaning the nicotine stains from the doors.
“It’s a funny irony,” Gardner said. “We have people who say they’re no longer going to shout ‘Amen’ they’re just going to shout ‘bingo.’ We have people doing that.”
The church is leasing the building for a few years while they build a larger, permanent building on property it owns across the highway.
In the mean time, Gardner said he thinks the building has found it’s true purpose.
“We’re glad bingo’s gone. We’re against it as a congregation. But this wasn’t about us defeating bingo, legislation and prayer did that before. We’re just here because it was an available building and we needed space.”
Anniston Star – All about bingo
0Anniston Star – All about bingo. The following editorial about Alabama’s electronic bingo issues is an interesting read. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments section! You can read the whole article by clicking on the preceding link.
Forget the stump speeches and campaign promises about gambling coming from Alabama’s gubernatorial hopefuls. Instead, consider this visual image.
The Tuscaloosa News’ front page last Friday carried a photograph from the latest tussle between Gov. Bob Riley’s anti-electronic bingo patriots and those who favor keeping the game of chance legal in this state.
The photograph zeroed in on Democratic state Rep. John Rogers, chair of the state Legislative Black Caucus, who was delivering a fiery speech against Riley’s raid on Greenetrack, the well-known bingo casino in Greene County.
To Rogers’ right stood — drum roll, please — Ron Sparks, the Democratic nominee who is hitching his gubernatorial hopes to the pro-gambling faction of the Alabama voter.
Sparks, the state agriculture commissioner who defeated U.S. Rep. Artur Davis in the primary, couldn’t pass up the opportunity to stand front-and-center in the latest publicized power play over gambling in this state.
In essence, the front page of the Tuscaloosa newspaper last Friday was a free political ad for Sparks. Its message: Want legalized gambling in Alabama? Want legalized gambling taxed in Alabama?
Then vote for Ron Sparks.
(Of course, it’s probably good that GOP candidates Bradley Byrne and Robert Bentley didn’t take advantage of the photo-op as prominently as did Sparks. Their gambling stances can’t be popular among the Greenetrack workers who are now unemployed.)
The point is that this campaign — for both Republicans and Democrats — has moved past the stage where gambling is a fringe issue from Riley’s second term. It’s now a hot topic, an everyday concern, for these candidates and Alabama voters, regardless of where the issue ranks among the state’s myriad needs.
Riley and John Tyson, who leads the governor’s anti-gambling task force, show no inclination to slow their efforts to shut down what they say are illegal bingo halls throughout the state.
With the state Supreme Court’s blessing, state troopers raided Greenetrack last Thursday, adding another notch on the Riley/Tyson belt. Amid calls of racism and fears of sizeable job losses in rural Greene County, protesters helped make last Thursday’s raid another unsightly scene in this uniquely Alabama quasi-war over gambling.
Because the three Creek Indian casinos in Alabama operate under federal control, the governor’s task force can’t shutter them. But it can go after Victoryland in Macon County, the state’s largest electronic bingo casino. There should be every expectation that state troopers will raid Victoryland if Alabama’s Supreme Court offers a ruling similar to the one that prompted the Greenetrack closure.
Likewise, Alabama voters also should have every expectation that gambling will remain a central topic in the campaign to elect Riley’s successor. Constitutional reform? Tax reform? Ethics reform on Goat Hill?
No, it’s bingo-hall raids and pro-gambling protests. It may be a fringe issue, but it’s going nowhere. Alabama voters are stuck with it.
Read more:Anniston Star – All about bingo
Alabama bingo probe becomes issue in election
0MONTGOMERY, ALA.
There were reverberations in the Alabama governor’s race after a federal grand jury investigating possible vote buying on electronic bingo legislation heard Wednesday from well-known Montgomery political consultant Joe Perkins, who is working on Ron Sparks’ Democratic campaign for governor.
You can read the whole article by Phillip Rawls here.
FBI investigates bingo legislation corruption
0FBI investigates bingo legislation corruption.
MONTGOMERY, AL (WAFF) – There is alleged public corruption involving bingo legislation and the FBI is investigating after the senate passed a bingo bill Tuesday.
Six men, including Lieutenant Governor Jim Folsom, Jr., the majority leaders of the senate and the house, and the minority senate and house leaders were met yesterday afternoon by federal law enforcement officers.
They are investigating serious allegations. The briefing at the Department of Public Safety headquarters lasted about 20 minutes.
The discussion, according to the lawmakers there, was straightforward.
They say federal officials told them they have substantial evidence of some public corruption involved in the bingo issue.
Investigators reportedly asked lawmakers if they knew of any wrongdoing and informed them of their findings.
“They were very vague, but they wanted to brief us on the fact that they had substantial evidence that there was some public corruption involved in the bingo issue,” said Senator Jabo Waggoner, Senate Minority Leader.
“I don’t have any knowledge of any illegal activity, and I would advise any of our members who do have any knowledge to turn that over to the authorities,” said Senator Zeb Little, Senate Majority Leader.
The state senate passed a bill to legalize, regulate and tax bingo games this week.
That bill still has to pass the house, then the issue would go to voters for a referendum on November 2nd.
Democrats say they’re shocked by the news and will cooperate with authorities, but they’re suspicious of the timing.
They allege Governor Bob Riley is behind the investigation. His office denies that allegation.
Alabama Supreme Court Reviews Bingo, Again
0Here’s a story about Alabama. It looks like they are trying to get electronic bingo machines legalized only to keep having the halls shut down that already operate them. It’s a sticky situation no matter how you look at it. If you live in Alabama or travel there to play the electronic bingo. Send me your thoughts at bigbad@bigbadbingo.com, or leave a comment.