FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS RELEASE
February 10, 2012
For More Information, contact:
Luther Strange
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Alabama Attorney General
Suzanne Webb (334) 242-7351
Page 1 of 2
ATTORNEY GENERAL STRANGE, DISTRICT ATTORNEY
BRANDON FALLS, AND SHERIFF MIKE HALE ANNOUNCE
DECISIVE COURT VICTORY IN FIVE ELECTRONIC BINGO CASES
(MONTGOMERY) – Attorney General Luther Strange is pleased to announce that
Jefferson County Presiding Circuit Judge Scott Vowell has issued a decisive ruling in five
separate cases involving so-called “electronic bingo.” The final ruling today was the
culmination of a joint law enforcement effort by Sheriff Mike Hale, District Attorney
Brandon Falls and Attorney General Luther Strange. Sheriff Hale’s Office seized nearly one
hundred illegal gambling machines from five separate locations throughout Jefferson County
last year. The Judge’s ruling today came after hearing testimony from law enforcement,
gaming experts, machine owners, and bingo workers after prosecutors from Attorney
General Strange’s Office and District Attorney Brandon Falls’ Office tried the cases in mid-
December 2011.
“The decision from Judge Vowell in Jefferson County Circuit Court marks a good
day for the rule of law,” said Attorney General Strange. “The court in a detailed analysis
held that machines masquerading as electronic bingo are in fact illegal slot machines. Bingo
operators have tried to create confusion in the law but this ruling ends the nonsense. Only the
traditional game commonly known as bingo is authorized by the Jefferson County bingo
amendment, and slot machines cannot be used to play bingo.”
In the ruling, the Court specifically found that the machines being used to play so-
called “electronic bingo” were nothing more than illegal slot machines playing an illegal
game that lasted only a matter of seconds. The Court found the game being played did not
meet the six mandatory characteristics of bingo set forth by the Alabama Supreme Court in
the 2010 Cornerstone case, which plainly requires that the human elements of the traditional
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game of bingo must be fully preserved in order for a game to potentially qualify as legal
bingo. Judge Vowell explained that “the point of Cornerstone, and the preceding Supreme
Court decisions on which it is based … is that any variation from the material human steps,
elements and skill of the traditional game of bingo takes the game outside the protection of
Alabama’s local bingo amendments.” Here, the Court found, virtually all of elements of
human skill, attention and recognition critical to the traditional game were eliminated, and
therefore the machines did not play legal bingo.
Attorney General Strange also notes that “the fundamental legal principles which
underlie today’s ruling apply not only to Jefferson County, but in all counties subject to local
bingo amendments. I hope this opinion will serve as a warning for those currently engaged
in illegal gambling activities or contemplating operating slot machines in Jefferson County
and throughout the State.” AlaFile E-Notice
01-CV-2011-001575.00
Judge: J. SCOTT VOWELL
To: RIGDON FRANK BRADY
rigdonb@jccal.org
NOTICE OF ELECTRONIC FILING
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, ALABAMA
STATE OF ALABAMA VS HP COMPAQ MONITOR ET AL
01-CV-2011-001575.00
The following matter was FILED on 2/10/2012 3:50:33 PM
Notice Date: 2/10/2012 3:50:33 PM
ANNE-MARIE ADAMS
CIRCUIT COURT CLERK
JEFFERSON COUNTY, ALABAMA
JEFFERSON COUNTY, ALABAMA
BIRMINGHAM, AL 35203
205-325-5355
anne-marie.adams@alacourt.govELECTRONICALLY FILED
2/10/2012 3:50 PM
CV-2011-001575.00
CIRCUIT COURT OF
JEFFERSON COUNTY, ALABAMA
ANNE-MARIE ADAMS, CLERK
