EDITORIAL: Alabama's house rules

What a mess Alabama is.

The future of the Country Crossing entertainment center near Dothan remained in limbo this week as state and local officials squabbled over search warrants to conduct anti-gambling raids, constitutional amendments to allow electronic bingo and figuring out which politicians received campaign donations from gambling interests.

All of this because some folks think wagering money on paper-and-pen bingo is OK, but betting on digital slot-machine bingo is the devil’s pastime.

The issue is of interest to the Panhandle because Country Crossing — an $87 million bingo and country music complex off U.S. 231, eight miles south of Dothan, that opened in December — draws some of its clientele from this area (indeed, it has advertised in Bay County). Its Web site also promotes the business’ proximity to the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport and local beaches. So there’s a potential symbiosis to develop between area tourism and Country Crossing.

That is, if Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and his gambling task force don’t kill the golden goose. Revenue from Country Crossing’s 1,700 bingo machines is tied to paying off $70 million in bonds Houston County issued for the complex’s construction. The task force has charged that the bingo machines violate state law because, unlike traditional bingo that uses cards and markers, they require minimal customer interaction. A player just pushes a button to get a result; he can operate the machine while blindfolded. That, officials say, makes it virtually a Vegas-style slot machine, which is illegal.

If there’s no bingo, there’s probably no Country Crossing. That means the 1,300 jobs it has created in the Houston County area, along with an expanded tax base, will vanish with it.

A similar showdown is developing at VictoryLand Bingo in Macon County. Both Country Crossing and VictoryLand have closed while awaiting court rulings on the machines’ legality.

Meanwhile, state law enforcement officials are securing search warrants so they can seize the machines. That’s a fairly important step the task force skipped when it initially massed hundreds of state troopers outside the facilities to conduct pre-dawn raids.

It’s ironic that a government agency that purports to be so concerned about upholding bingo laws would be so careless with respecting such a fundamental civil right. Task force officials claimed a search warrant was not needed if undercover officers witnessed illegal gambling in progress. But that’s taking an unjustifiable shortcut around the process. It’s not as if lives were being endangered or that evidence would be destroyed if the authorities didn’t act immediately.

Then there’s the issue of gambling interests in Alabama and Mississippi donating money to Gov. Riley and the head of the task force. That raises potential conflicts. Is the governor harassing some bingo operations to ensure that they won’t take business from those with political connections? Talk about gaming the system and playing by house rules.

Let’s hope Alabamans find a why to cut through the politics and hypocrisy. A proposed constitutional amendment was introduced this week in the Alabama House that would let voters decide if they want to legalize electronic bingo games at certain locations. That’s a step in the right direction: Change a bad law. Government should be ensuring only that the games aren’t rigged, not conducting armed raids over the methods of play.