Sand Mountain Reporter

Two companies are trying to bring a resort with electronic bingo to Etowah County, but the matter is waiting on a state Supreme Court ruling.

And Attorney General Troy King told a local Baptist group this week he opposes it.

Meanwhile, Etowah County Commission members are waiting to see what happens.

Larry V. Payne, a Republican who represents the northern part of the county, said the commission simply has followed the law about electronic bingo. A constitutional amendment allows charity bingo in Etowah County.

CBS Supply, of Mount Pleasant, S.C., and Coosa Entertainment, of Rainbow City, are working together to try to develop a resort complex with bingo in Etowah County.

Circuit Judge Clark Hall appeared to clear the way for electronic bingo in the county. King, however, warned that electronic bingo machines would be seized if brought into the county before the current law governing bingo has been changed or successfully challenged.

“This is not a threat, but a fulfillment of my oath to faithfully execute the laws of this state,” King said at a news conference Tuesday with the Etowah Baptist Association.

King thinks the constitutional amendment allowing bingo in Etowah County applies only to traditional paper bingo, and he said electronic bingo is still illegal.

“Until someone changes the law or says this law means what it doesn’t say, we plan to enforce the law as it is written in the Constitution of Alabama,” King said.

However, commissioners look to Hall’s ruling and wait to see what the Supreme Court says about an appeal.

“Troy King is not as powerful as a circuit judge, believe it or not,” Payne said. “He just gives opinions.

“One day he says it’s legal, and two days later in The Gadsden Times he says it’s not legal.”

Payne stressed that he doesn’t care for gambling, but said the commission simply acts as a facilitator. He said the commission requires that any operation be a $200 million investment with 2,000 jobs — 75 percent of those going to Etowah County residents.

That would make the resort a larger employer than Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s Gadsden plant.

King’s visit to Etowah County came one day after Gov. Bob Riley created a task force to investigate gambling statewide and appointed a veteran antigambling prosecutor, former Jefferson County District Attorney David Barber, to lead it.

The governor did not include the attorney general on the task force.
Etowah County District Attorney Jimmie Harp said he and Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin spoke with Barber on Tuesday and requested that Etowah County be his first stop.

Entrekin said the topic of the meeting will be the appropriate administration of bingo laws in the county.

Electronic bingo already is offered in several Alabama counties, including the dog tracks in Macon and Greene counties.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Publisher: Ben Shurett

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