JUDGE ROY MOORE AND FOUNDATION FOR MORAL LAW APPLAUD STATE SUPREME COURT RULING AND GOVERNOR'S ACTIONS OPPOSING ILLEGAL GAMBLING MACHINES

January 29, 2010

Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore and the Foundation for Moral Law, a religious liberties legal organization in Montgomery, Alabama, praised the Alabama Supreme Court's decision today striking down an unlawful City of Ashville ordinance allowing electronic “bingo” slot machines, and encouraged the Governor's Task Force to Stop Illegal Gambling in its efforts to raid two large Alabama casinos peddling illegal slot machines.

In the Supreme Court decision released this afternoon in Sheriff Terry Surles v. City of Ashville, Ala., a unanimous Court held that Ashville's ordinance authorizing electronic bingo went beyond the scope of the “game commonly known as bingo” and violated Section 65, the anti-lottery provision of the Alabama Constitution. The Court reversed a St. Clair County judge's decision that the Ashville electronic gambling scheme was legal “bingo.” Judge Moore and the Foundation filed an amicus curiae brief in the Surles case last August, urging the Court to do essentially what it did today.

Earlier today, John Tyson of the Governor's anti-gambling task force conducted attempted raids on two major centers of electronic slot machines in Alabama. While no machines have yet been seized, Judge Moore and the Foundation applaud these efforts by the executive branch to finally put some teeth on the Supreme Court's recent opinions regarding machine gambling and, more importantly, the plain language of the Alabama Constitution.

Judge Roy Moore stated:

“I fully support the Governor's actions in stopping illegal gambling in Alabama. Electronic bingo machines are against the law. It's about time that gambling advocates come to the realization that it violates the law.”

We can expect that the gambling special interests in Alabama will always be pushing the envelope to expand their illicit business; it is nice to see judges and law enforcement finally pushing back.

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.