Slot Machine Companies Try to Relaunch Themselves in Alabama

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Posted: March 16, 2012

Updated: October 4, 2017

Alabama arcades still forbidden, but not if they offer bingo a loophole reveals

In Alabama, United States, small time slot machine arcades have thought of a rather ingenuous way of re-inventing themselves in order to offer illegal services legally to gamblers in the state, according to United States gambling news. Announcing themselves as bingo slots and generate confusion as to the legality of the machines.

This imaginative ploy is actually being used by the arcades in the state as a manner of beating the current American gambling laws, in place in Alabama, which forbids slot machines from being operated in the state, in a bid to avoid a return to their rather turbulent gambling past.

As well as slot machines, Alabama also forbids any United States poker rooms, online sportsbooks, online casinos, mobile gambling sites, and anything of the sort inside its state borders. The only acceptable form of gambling to have been approved is standardized bingo. Something the arcades see as an opportunity to beat the law.

Speaking on the matter, Attorney General Luther Strange commented that, “this is not about whether I believe gambling is good or bad, this is about the rule of law, pure and simple. When the Alabama Supreme Court makes a ruling, it is my job and my duty to uphold the rule of law. The Alabama Supreme Court has been crystal clear about what is legal in Alabama when it comes to so-called ‘electronic bingo.”

The Attorney General went on to explain that bingo was only legal in the state if it passed all Supreme Court rules regarding bingo, which in short stated that there had be a human presence to the game, and that no electronic machines, such as slot machines were involved in bingo.

There is a wide belief however, that several arcades, who have already announced their intentions to re-open, will advertise their slot machines as electronic bingo to cause confusion and try to make their machines appear legal. Online bingo in the United States is also forbidden so it is unclear how they hope to pull off such a move. They may not even get their feet of the ground though, as Attorney General Strange admits he is onto them already.

“Bingo operators have tried to create confusion in the law but no one should be confused about my commitment and duty to enforce the law. Those currently engaged in illegal gambling activities or contemplating opening an illegal gambling facility under the guise of so called ‘electronic bingo’ in defiance of Alabama law should be aware that this office will continue to enforce the law,” he said.
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