Slot Definition Differs Depending on Who You Talk To       

In Alabama they are still trying to figure out what a slot machine is believe it or not. The government there has been fighting over the definition of a slot machine for years, and there is still no happy medium for them. As far as Governor Bob Riley is concerned, if it looks and sounds like a slot machine than it is a slot machine. But others are not as steadfast in their interpretation. 

Several within the state have been trying to bring in electronic bingo games as they say that it would make more money for the state. However, Riley says that they are just glorified slot machines and won’t allow them. Those companies that have already brought in the bingo machines are having them seized out of their establishments and being told that they are breaking the law. 

The National Indian Gaming Commission and the United States Department of the Interior disagree with Riley. They say that under federal law that they are allowed to bring in the bingo machines because they are considered Class II slot machines. They are legal because of the deal that the government has struck with the tribes. We took their land, so they get bingo machines.  

He says that if the tribes want to allow bingo they are going to have to use paper cards, and not electronic slot machines. He says that the process of weeding out these slot machines is not to give total control to the tribes – it is to remove illegal slot machines from the state.

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