New Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange is pushing for the remaining 3 electronic bingo operations, run by American Indians, to be shuttered alongside the various other bingo operations that were closed last year, but the Indians believe the federal government will take their side:
Tribal leaders say the push to ban their machines is rooted in the state's anti-gambling mentality, and it does not take into consideration the tribe's protection under federal law.This however is not the comment that peaked my interest, but the reporting of comments by the Governor's office on the subject:
"No matter what the state does, there will always be another step with the federal government," Poarch Creek Government Relations spokesman Robbie McGhee said. "They've always been honest about where they stand on gaming in Alabama, but we hope they can respect there is a national entity. The National Gaming Commission would have to come in and issues a closure for our facilities. It is not the state."
Governor Robert Bentley says he supports the attorney general, but a ban could only happen after all forms of bingo are down away with under state law.The above comment is essentially what I have been saying all along with regard to the Indian casinos. While Bob Riley, and even the state Supreme Court may believe that the Indian operations violate state law (because non-Indian operations are now deemed illegal) the bingo laws read as such that I still believe that most operations could be considered legal. This is, and has been, the interpretation of the federal government and as such no grandstanding by AG Strange will prompt the closing of the Indian operated gaming facilities. The more intrinsic question to me is how the Governor's office can recognize this and still say the Alabama Supreme Court ruled correctly in closing the non-Indian bingo operations?
