Governor’s Office Responds to Victoryland’s Claims 

So it would appear that Alabama has another fight on their hands. The casino Victoryland had closed their doors as they were running illegal slot machines. The Governor’s Task Force did an inspection of the property and concluded that the slot machines that the company was running were in fact illegal. In response, the company closed their doors and temporarily laid off their employees. 

However, according to Macon County District Attorney E. Paul Jones, the slot machines are legal. Jones said that the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision regarding Whitehall bingo did not apply to them. He said that their amendment precluded the ruling from being of consequence to them. However, even with this in mind, he said that the owner, Mr. McGregor, had reconfigured his machines so that they were no longer slot machines and that they were legal under the law. 

Jones said that he, Sheriff David Warren, Probate Judge Mannefee, members of the Macon County Commission, etc. had all inspected the slot machines and had determined that they were legal. He said that they have complied with the ruling that says that slot machines are not legal in the state of Alabama. He said that they went step by step with the ruling to ensure that they were in compliance and that they have no doubt that they are. 

He said that he would be notifying the Governor’s task force of the findings and that he hopes they realize that these are legal bingo machines, not illegal slot machines. The Governor’s office simply responded that the slot machines are “plainly in violation of Alabama law” when the task force had inspected them. He said that there is nothing in the bingo amendment that allows slot machines to be played in the state, nor in their county.