Walker County Attempts to Define Bingo

October 19th, 2009

Walker County has organized an electronic bingo hearing in Jefferson Courthouse to determine the legalities of playing electronic bingo in Walker County. A circuit court judge of the county is presiding over this hearing.

The purpose of the hearing is to clarify the exact meaning of the word “bingo,” as it appears in the Constitutional Amendment 549, and whether it means the same as “electronic bingo.” The amendment does not provide a clear definition of the word “bingo.”

Monday was the first day of the hearing. The expert of the prosecution testified that there are major differences between traditional bingo and electronic bingo, most of them revolving around participation of players and personal interaction.

On Tuesday, the second day of the hearing, defense lawyers put their experts on the stand. One of them was Jack Saltiel of Eclipse Gaming Systems. He said that electronic bingo did not appear overnight, but evolved slowly and adapted itself to the latest technological developments.

Saltiel said that electronic bingo has been played in Alabama since 1989, even before the amendment was passed. His company, the Eclipse Gaming Systems, was among the first to develop computerized consoles for electronic bingo. Besides, the company had signed deals with Poarch Creek tribal gaming facilities right from the beginning.

A defense attorney representing the interests of charity bingo said that the prosecutors placed too much emphasis on indentifying the differences between electronic bingo and traditional bingo. Mr. Herbie Brewer said: “I think that’s what’s attempting to be done, but I think it’s been clearly pointed out in there today though that other than the fact that one involves a human being participating more significantly in the process and the other involves a computer doing it, then the basic rules of bingo are being met both electronically and in the traditional old fashioned type bingo.”

Sheriff John Mark Tirey said: “I’m very pleased that we’re getting it to court. This has been something that the district attorney and I filed in 2007 and we just want answers. We want to know the legality of this and get a decision of whether it’s legal or illegal.”

The hearing is to resume on Thursday 9 a.m. in the courthouse of Judge Robert Vance. The results of this hearing will be of particular interest to bingo enthusiasts as it will have a major impact on the ways in which Alabama bingo players can play their favorite game.

Bingo Sites Reviewed

Walker County Attempts to Define Bingo

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