Bingo Report Causes Tension

Attorney General Troy King had released a review of gambling in the state of Alabama back in 2004. He did not however share the information that the National Indian Gaming Commission with Governor Bob Riley, who just found out the report existed. Riley had gone to King and asked for a report, so it was his idea; but that didn’t mean that he was informed when the report was completed.
 
Riley says that the report backs up his idea that slot machines across the state are illegal slot machines. It seems that when King released his original report he left out the findings by a federal agency that said that many machines that were posing as bingo machines were in fact, more like slot machines than bingo machines. They said that there were specific standards that they expected bingo machines to meet in order not to be classified as slot machines and they were unable to make those standards.
 
King dismissed the letter saying that there was really no conclusion met, and that the “scheme and structure is confusing and difficult to enforce.” He said that the findings don’t relate to the issue at hand. But Riley is very disturbed that this information was kept from him and that the letter was not included in the report. He says that had this been known they could have stopped the spread of the illegal slot machines across the state and says that King is directly responsible for that increase in machines.
 
King says that the report stands as is, and that even if the Governor doesn’t like it that the machines are not slot machines and that they are legal. He says that he does not like electronic bingo, but that it is legal in the state and therefore there is nothing they can do about it.

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