The fight over gambling in Alabama has a new chapter. The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled against the Victoryland casino and in favor of the state in arguments over electronic bingo. A-P-R student reporter Allison Mollenkamp has more…
The Alabama Supreme court says electronic bingo machines qualify as gambling. This overturned an earlier circuit court decision that placed the machines in the same category as in-person bingo games which are legal.
The ruling is the latest step in a battle between the Victoryland casino and the state. In 2013 the state raided the casino and seized cash and all the bingo machines. Under the current ruling the state will keep the seized goods.
Attorney General Luther Strange hailed the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision as a resounding victory for the rule of law and the definitive word that electronic bingo is illegal in Alabama.
The justices hope that this will end the long legal battle.
Today is the last day for people to register to participate in the 2016 Alabama Senior Olympics. The games will be held in Birmingham instead of Montgomery this year. People over the age of 50 are eligible to participate.
Ronnie Floyd is the state coordinator of the Alabama Senior Olympics. He says the participants in the games get more benefits from the games then they expect from it.
“It’s easy to stay in shape if you are doing something that you enjoy doing and so you will walk, or cycles, or swim, do some light weight training, to where you can continue to play tennis and pickleball or some of these other events. So it’s good for their health and the enjoyment and the socialization is great to.”
Floyd added the games will be from April 13 through May 4 and those who do well enough in this year’s games can qualify for the U.S. National Senior Games being held next year in Birmingham.
A suspect found a creative place to hide during an Alabama drug raid, but investigators say it was the snoring that did him in.
Brookside police say about one hour and 45 minutes in to searching a house, investigators heard a snoring sound coming from the clothes dryer and found Michael Christopher Davis curled up inside the appliance.
The 33-year-old suspect told police they had spent so much time searching the home Wednesday afternoon that he fell asleep.
Brookside police Chief Jason Springfield says Davis' arrest came after multiple people inside and outside the home attempted to run away from authorities who had arrived to search the house.
It's unclear what charges Davis is facing.