Judge Roy Moore and Foundation for Moral Law File Brief in Alabama Supreme Court Opposing Video "Bingo" Gambling in Etowah County, Alabama
January 22, 2009
Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore and the Foundation for Moral Law, a religious liberties legal organization in Montgomery, Alabama, filed an amicus brief in the Alabama Supreme Court today, arguing that video gambling posing as “machine bingo” in Etowah County is an illegal lottery scheme prohibited under Alabama law. The brief was filed in support of the Etowah Baptist Association (EBA), a group attempting to intervene to stop the Etowah County Commission from proceeding with its plans to allow “machine bingo” in the county even though “bingo” is defined in the law as a game of the traditional “card or paper” variety.
Read the Foundation's brief in Etowah Baptist Assoc. v. Sheriff Todd Entrekin, et al. here.
Judge Roy Moore, a resident of and former circuit court judge in Etowah County, stated,
“The gambling special interests in Alabama are constantly coming up with new and creative ways to try to subvert the anti-gambling provisions of the Alabama Constitution. This latest attempt to portray video gambling machines as mere ‘bingo' in Etowah County is simply another devious attempt to expand gambling in Alabama. As it has done in the past, and most recently in Jefferson County, we expect the Alabama Supreme Court to see through this latest charade for the illegal casino-type gambling that it is.”
In this case, Amendment 506 of the Alabama Constitution was approved in 1989 to allow “bingo” in Etowah County. That same year the Alabama Legislature passed an enabling act that specifically defined bingo as a game played “on a card or paper sheet.” Despite this traditional definition of bingo, the Etowah County Commission approved the introduction of video or “machine bingo” last year. An Etowah County Circuit Court judge effectively ruled in October of 2008 that the county could proceed with its “machine bingo” scheme and that the enabling act was unconstitutional.
The Etowah Baptist Association attempted to intervene in the case below, arguing that Amendment 506 and the enabling act only allow “card or paper” bingo, and noting that the Attorney General was not notified that the constitutionality of a statute was at issue. The trial court denied intervenor status to the EBA, and the case is now on appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court.
The Foundation for Moral Law argues in its brief that the complex, computerized, casino-like gambling approved by the Etowah County Commission in this case makes a mockery of the commonsense understanding of “bingo” and of Alabama's anti-lottery laws for three reasons.
1. First, to avoid subterfuge or evasion of the law, any case involving gambling issues in Alabama must be considered against the broad constitutional prohibition of lotteries or “any scheme in the nature of a lottery.” Art. IV, § 65, Ala. Const. 1901. Any exceptions thereto, like bingo amendments, should be construed narrowly.
2. Second, the trial court should not have struck down the enabling statute because the statute's definition of bingo as played on “card or paper” explains the definition of “bingo” used in Amendment 506—it does not bring the two laws into conflict.
3. Third, like the slot machines in Jefferson County three years ago, the Supreme Court will look at the substance of the gaming scheme and will not be fooled by the persistent and imaginative attempts by gambling interests to whitewash their illegal operations as mere “bingo” or other narrow exceptions to anti-gambling laws in Alabama.
The Foundation urges the Alabama Supreme Court to reverse the trial court's ruling and hold that “machine bingo” is barred by law in Etowah County.
This is not the first time that gambling interests have tried to circumvent state law. In 2001, Judge Moore, while Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, wrote Opinion of the Justices No. 373, which has been cited repeatedly including in the 2004 case of Ex Parte Ted's Game Enterprises and in the 2006 case of Barber v. Jefferson County Racing Association involving video “sweepstakes.” Judge Moore and the Foundation filed an amicus brief in the Barber case and the Supreme Court quoted from the brief to support its decision that the machines were illegal gambling slot machines.
The Foundation for Moral Law, a national non-profit legal organization, is located in Montgomery, Alabama, and is dedicated to restoring the knowledge of God in law and government through litigation and education relating to moral issues and religious liberty cases.
