Last Friday the Alabama Supreme Court made a ruling that card bingo is the only form allowed in St. Clair County. The case involved a suit brought by Sheriff Terry Surles and District Attorney Richard Minor’s office against the City of Ashville, Shooting Star gaming and American Legion Post 170. That suit questioned the legality of electronic bingo machines, which were installed and used for one week last year before an injunction shut the operation at the American Legion Post down.

The high court ‘s unanimous decision said that card bingo is the form that is allowed under acts passed in the early 1990s and its ruling upheld Surles’ argument.

However, in a footnote in the ruling, the court stated that the City of Ashville’s machines were not inspected during the trial that took place before Circuit Judge Charles Robinson. The court wrote:

“Post 170 and Shooting Star correctly argue that no evidence was received at trial regarding the specific machines they actually intended to use in the facility. Thus, our discussion is limited to the legality of the game authorized by the ordinance and does not purport to pass on the legality of any particular game or machine that they intended to use in the facility.”

Ashville mayor Robert McKay said that he was not surprised at the ruling and added that the option to amend a part of the city’s electronic bingo ordinance to streamline wording remains open. But he said that for now, he and his council are waiting to see how things pan out with the state’s latest hot button issue.

“We’re not going to get into any rush because this thing is going to be going on for some time and we’ll have to wait and see what happens in Montgomery,” McKay said. “We’re going to live with the decision they made [in our case]. There’s no rush to make a decision right now. We’ll get to see how things work out [in Montgomery] and we’ll have to make some decisions and we’ll go from there.”

The Surles-Ashville case has been awaiting a ruling from the high court since last spring.

St. Clair District Attorney Richard Minor said of the high court’s opinion, “This case has always been about the rule of law, and the interpretation of the 1991 and 1993 acts of the constitution of the state that regulate the operation of bingo in St. Clair County.

Those acts define bingo as the “game commonly known as bingo, where numbers of symbols on a card are matched up with numbers of symbols selected at random.”

Minor stated that the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision “specifically states that local amendments throughout Alabama, exempting bingo from the general prohibition on lotteries, must be narrowly constructed to encompass the game commonly known as bingo.”

Minor further made clear his and Sheriff Surles’ position on the Ashville bingo issue by saying, “Regardless of a moral position on bingo or electronic bingo, our sworn duty was to uphold the law as we interpret it.” He said that it was his office’s interpretation that “the game commonly known as bingo” is one that is played on a traditional paper card.

In November, the Alabama Supreme Court made another ruling on what criteria needs to be met for electronic bingo in the state. Since that ruling, several electronic bingo halls closed their doors for a time to “update software.”

Governor Bob Riley’s Gambling Task Force then went into those bingo casinos—including the state’s largest, Victory Land—and took the bingo machines out. As of press time those operations remain closed.

“I don’t think the state of Alabama will be able to hold back gaming,” McKay said. “There are too many people with deep pockets already involved. Ashville can’t spend the kind of money they do in south Alabama. Now, if they have a ruling in Montgomery that changes things, then we ought to have the opportunity to revisit this. Take a look at Gadsden; everybody up there is basically on board. Etowah County wants it so bad it’s unreal. And then you look at St. Clair County; it would be really bad in my mind if all the surrounding counties had it and we would not be able to take advantage.”

McKay continued, “The American Legion has been playing [traditional card bingo] for 40 years. Some other groups have been here for a time and played it, but The American Legion kept it going for years. It’s frustrating in one degree, but as long as it’s all fair, then it’s okay… The law says that the Indians can play it right now. It’s all political… Sooner or later the big money is going to win and I really can’t see Victory Land and Green Track staying shut down. They may be open next week or in the next few months.”