Bingo: Alabama Voices - The power of bingo

I knew bingo was powerful in Alabama. I did not really know how powerful bingo was until this legislative session. Each day I encounter more of its tremendous power.

Bingo is so powerful that the Alabama Senate has been considering it since Feb. 21. We have now passed April 21 and we are still in its throes. Except for the mandatory consideration of sunset legislation, bingo has consumed all this time.

Bingo is so powerful in Alabama that it exists without state regulation. It spread through the many local constitutional amendments, 18 to be exact. Bingo, however, is no longer paper cards, elderly ladies and local charities. Electronics have made bingo parlors into low-scale casinos. Ours is probably the only state in the nation that has legal gambling without state regulation.

Bingo is so powerful that not one red cent in state revenues is paid. There may well be billions of dollars gambled without any monies flowing into public coffers. Indian gambling also produces no state revenues.

Bingo is so powerful that no one knows how much money is involved. Its revenues are completely shrouded in secret.  Some estimate that $200 million in profits are made each year from bingo in Macon County. We are not talking about gross, but pure profits.

Gambling is so powerful that the press is silent. It does not aggressively raise questions about how bingo is unregulated, that it does not benefit the state and that it ties up the Legislature.

The power of bingo manifested itself in Greene County in 2006. By law, the sheriff regulates bingo in Greene County. When Deputy Sheriff Isom Thomas won the Democratic primary for sheriff, the nomination was blatantly taken away from him. I tried to help, but bingo was too powerful.

Sheriff Thomas contacted me when he heard that local legislation had been filed to transfer his authority to regulate bingo. He said that no one had talked to him about it. I agreed to help. I just could not contribute to the injustice.

I decided I would not vote for the bill. I also decided that I would not vote for any other bingo legislation. Since these are proposed amendments to the constitution, not voting is powerful. Such bingo legislation requires a three-fifths affirmative vote of each body of the Legislature. That means 21 of 35 votes in the Senate. I knew my vote would be needed to get 21.

I tried to work out a compromise that would allow the sheriff to participate effectively in appointing the proposed commission to regulate bingo in Greene County. The powers that be would not agree. I held on to my vote.

The Senate has been considering just the Macon County bingo bill all this time. The Greene County bingo bill has not even come up for consideration. In my 25 years in the Alabama Senate, no bill has been debated this long.

Sixteen of 22 Democrats are willing to vote for bingo, but that is not enough. Some Republicans considered voting for it even though it will likely cost them re-election. Most Democrats refusing to vote for bingo have come under great pressure and some have come under political threats. That's how powerful bingo is in Alabama.

These bills were promoted as instruments that would provide funds for local entities and transfer regulation of bingo from sheriffs in Greene and Macon Counties to racing commissions. These bills, as originally introduced, do so much more, including the following: expand gambling beyond the counties through the Internet or remote locations; bar the courts of Alabama from looking at any bingo action taken; insure that monopolies would continue in these counties; give immunity to nearly everything; etc.

Bingo is so powerful that it has friends distrusting friends, allies turning against allies, and members of both Republican and Democratic caucuses threatening to bolt.

The Senate cannot continue in this situation. We can't pass the bingo bill, and we can't get off it. Bingo is too powerful for me. I hope it's not too powerful for the people of Alabama.

Sometimes we think we know about something, but we don't. When we face it in struggle, we know it differently. I have known about gambling in Alabama for years, but did not perceive its dimensions clearly. Now my eyes are opened wide.

Written by Hank Sanders

www.montgomeryadvertiser.com