VictoryLand casino reopening despite court rulings
The VictoryLand casino is opening in Macon County despite the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that its previous electronic bingo operations were illegal. Scores of cars lined up outside the facility east of Montgomery waiting on it to resume operations Tuesday afternoon. The state seized more than a thousand of the slot-like gambling machines during a raid at VictoryLand in 2013. The Alabama Supreme Court in March ruled the machines were not what was intended by state laws allowing card and paper type bingo games. Owner Milton McGregor last month announced the reopening of the electronic bingo business. McGregor says Macon County’s sheriff and district attorney have assured him the games are legal. He says the casino will offer 500 bingo terminals. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
VictoryLand Casino sets Sept. 6 reopening date
VictoryLand Casino will re-open next month. The Macon County casino, which has been closed three years following a raid by the state Attorney General Luther Strange‘s office, will reopen its doors Sept. 6, according to a press release issued by Tuskegee Mayor Johnny Ford. Ford made the announcement Saturday saying the chairman of the Macon County Racing Commission Luther Curry was told the news by casino owner Milton McGregor. “I’m calling on all the people in Macon County to stand with [VictoryLand owner] Milton McGregor and make sure that when VictoryLand is opened on Sept. 6 that it stays open,” Ford said in the release. “[McGregor] promised that VictoryLand would reopen before the end of the summer, and Sept. 6 is good enough for us in Tuskegee/Macon County who have waited so long for our homegrown industry, which was illegally closed by Luther Strange, to be reopened.” VictoryLand was raided as part of a statewide crackdown on “illegal gambling” in 2013, devastating the Macon County economy, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state. McGregor said recently he’ll reopen with roughly 1,000 employees, down from the 2,000-plus the casino once employed.
VictoryLand owner plans to reopen despite losing legal fight
VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor says he will reopen his casino later this year despite losing a three-year legal battle over the legality of electronic bingo machines. McGregor in a Monday press conference said he hoped to have the casino open by early summer. McGregor criticized last week’s Alabama Supreme Court ruling that electronic gambling machines that had been seized are illegal. The court ruled that the state could keep 1,615 gambling machines seized from VictoryLand in a 2013 raid. McGregor said he has agreements with machine manufacturers to provide machines for the reopening. The casino’s planned reopening could set off a new legal battle over the machines. ___ Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
VictoryLand owner hopes to reopen by Christmas
A lawyer for VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor said he hopes to have the casino reopened by Christmas despite a court order allowing the state to keep seized gambling machines. McGregor’s attorney Joe Espy said Wednesday that VictoryLand will have to obtain new bingo machines in order to reopen. However, Espy believes the casino will be able to do that. The state has been in a long-running legal battle over the slot machine-look-alikes. The attorney general’s office seized 1,615 electronic bingo machines and $260,000 during a 2013 raid at VictoryLand. A circuit judge this year ordered the state to return the machines by Nov. 16 saying it was unfair to close the casino if others remained open. The Alabama Supreme Court on Monday stayed the order to return the machines. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Luther Strange welcomes Alabama Supreme Court stay on VictoryLand
The Alabama Supreme Court on Monday issued a stay of Montgomery County Circuit Judge William Shashy’s Oct. 5 ruling that the state does not have to return electronic gaming machines and cash seized from VictoryLand in Macon County. Shashy ruled last month that electronic bingo was legal in Macon County saying the state was “cherry picking” which casinos to prosecute while others remained in business when it shut down VictoryLand casino in a 2013 raid. Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange welcomed Monday’s stay. “I am pleased with the Alabama Supreme Court’s stay of the Circuit Court’s order concerning VictoryLand,” said Attorney General Strange. “The high court’s decision will prevent the release of all illegal electronic bingo machines seized at VictoryLand until the Supreme Court is able to rule on the state’s appeal. It is important that the case be allowed to progress through the entire judicial process so the legality of electronic bingo at VictoryLand can be settled once and for all,” Strange said. The state seized 1,615 electronic bingo machines and $253,105 in cash from VictoryLand on Feb. 19, 2013 claiming the currency and machines are illegal and sought forfeiture of both.
Judge delays ruling on return of VictoryLand machines
A judge in Montgomery is delaying a decision on whether to return more than 1,600 gambling machines seized in a raid at the VictoryLand casino in 2013. Circuit Judge William Shashy told lawyers during a hearing Tuesday he wants to see what happens in other cases and the Legislature before deciding the request by VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor. Al.com reports that McGregor hopes to reopen his Macon County operation soon if he can find a vendor for electronic bingo machines. Shashy ruled in June that the state wrongly seized gambling machines and more than $260,000 in cash from VictoryLand during the raid. McGregor is in in court trying to get everything returned. The state attorney general’s office is trying to block the release of the machines and cash. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Alabama gambling bill prompts passionate testimony
Gambling foes and proponents squared off over whether a lottery and casinos would bring jobs and revenue, or corruption and vice. The Alabama Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee held a public hearing Tuesday on the bill to authorize a state lottery and casinos at four dog tracks. Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, who is sponsoring the bill, says gambling has to be an option on the table for the state budget crisis. Gambling opponent Joe Godfrey argued gambling would be a tax on the poor. Others argued Macon County had been devastated by the closure of VictoryLand bingo casino. Testimony also illustrated the developing turf war. Speakers from the Wiregrass asked to have a fifth casino located there. Marsh delayed a vote, saying he wants changes to the bill. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Katherine G. Robertson, Caleb Crosby: Gaming a bad idea for Alabama
We have known for months that a deal was in the works to expand gambling operations in Alabama either through a lottery, a tribal compact, or privately run casinos. Such a move under Republican leadership is disheartening, but not surprising. Any chance at a money grab, be it through tax increases or gambling, is far easier than taking a scalpel to the drivers of the current budget shortfall. The General Fund woes present a very real challenge for our leaders, but the public is being fed a number of false choices as to how the problem must be solved. We should not be forced to choose which revenue generator is the least offensive. There are still plenty of good ideas and even bills on the table that would help the state do what the private sector does — scale back spending in a down year. The appeal of easy money through gambling is the idea that those tough decisions can be sidestepped, but not without repercussions. The Policy Institute’s position on using either of these tactics to generate money for the state has been well- publicized throughout our 25-year history. The success of lotteries and gambling, of course, depends upon the participation of the poor and vulnerable. The state then becomes addicted to such funding streams, politicians actually desire more, and more individuals and families recklessly spend their money that way. Calls to further expand gambling will become incessant and government will be expanded right along with it. Simultaneously, Alabama’s leaders will become owned by gaming entities whose power and influence is made possible via money lost by our state’s gamblers. Because of saturated gaming markets, the only people visiting Alabama’s casinos will be Alabamians, especially its poorest. Then local economies will be left to bear the brunt of this bad decision by state leaders. While casino gaming is being advertised as a job creator, the jobs that typically come with gambling tend to be low-wage positions that, because of falling demand, are short-lived. In the past year alone, two casinos in Mississippi have closed. In Atlantic City, N.J., four casinos have closed or will close soon, including its newest one, the $2.4 billion Revel. Thousands of workers in both states who thought that gambling would be their ticket to success have been laid off. The irony in all of this is that 20 other states face budget shortfalls. Most of their shortfalls are substantially larger than ours. Guess how many of the “shortfall states” have lotteries? All but one of them. Guess how many have casinos? 14 of them. Unless a state’s spending problems are fixed — most of which are related to Medicaid, prisons, and public pensions — new revenues can’t keep pace with the rising costs of these services or programs. For instance, Alabama’s share of Medicaid costs has doubled in the past 10 years and shows no signs of slowing down. As a result, the state’s need for more of your money through one mechanism or another will never cease to be necessary. API has proposed or supported a number of ideas that, if implemented, would help fill the budget gap. We’ve researched and recommended various cost-saving reforms to our public pensions, Medicaid prescription reform, eliminating vacant positions within state government, privatizing ABC and bidding out various nonessential government services, exploring tax amnesty to generate revenue already owed to the state, and bringing health insurance premiums of state employees more in balance with those of private-sector workers. Some of those ideas are making their way through the Legislature and some are not. All of them would be challenging to pass — they are all disfavored by one group or another — but none of them exploit the poor. Using the excuse of a budget shortfall to pave the way for more gambling is irresponsible. The effects of it would plague our state long past the political careers of those leading the charge. ••• Caleb Crosby is president and CEO and Katherine Robertson is vice president for the Alabama Policy Institute, a nonprofit research and education organization dedicated to the preservation of free markets, limited government, and strong families. If you would like to speak with the authors, please email communications@alabamapolicy.org or call (205) 870-9900. Note: This column is a copyrighted feature distributed free of charge by the Alabama Policy Institute (API). Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided the author(s) and API are properly cited.
