Alabama’s crusading anti-electronic bingo state attorney general has frozen the assets of an entire city after he claimed its officials allowed an illegal bingo parlor to operate there, a new report says. AG Steve Marshall says he won’t unfreeze the assets of the city of Lipscomb, population 2,086 until city officials hand all financial records over to the state. Marshal, the report says, suspects the city, which is part of the Birmingham metropolitan area, of profiting from the activities of Jay’s Charity Bingo, according to court filings. The freeze means no money can come in or go out of city hall, which also means employees are not being paid and services for residents have ceased. “I had to take my own money to pay someone because I could not write a check to pay the man,” Mayor Tonja Baldwin told a major media outlet in the state.
For this article, SBS will be going over what to look for from the latest gaming news coming from Cotton State along with some additional thoughts regarding Alabama gambling and beyond.
In September, Marshall’s office arrested five individuals connected to Jay’s Charity Bingo and charged them with third-degree burglary after stolen bingo terminals were found on the premises. Marshall’s agents immediately knew the machines were “hot” because they still had the Alabama Attorney General’s Office evidence stickers on them. Additionally, the report notes, the machines had been seized in a raid by the DA’s office in August at a different legal bingo parlor 80 miles away in the city of Selma. The machines remained at the Selma venue while authorities waited on a seizure order, but they disappeared before the order could be obtained.
“The brazen nature of stealing something that has an evidence sticker on it just shows you how far some of these people will go,” Marshal said to the same media outlet at the time.
Jay’s Charity Bingo was also shut down during the August raids but apparently reopened once it had gotten hold of the stolen machines, according to court documents. The establishment is also subject to the asset freeze. Marshall’s lawsuit, filed last week, claims the city of Lipscomb is responsible for licensing Jay’s Charity Bingo and continues to receive “illegal funding” from the “illegal gambling.”
Also covered in the article, the legality of electronic bingo machines was for years the subject of legal battles in Alabama. Operators said the machines conformed to the state’s bingo laws, but Marshall has long seen them as a “menace to public health, morals, safety, and welfare.” The matter was then settled in October 2022 when the state’s Supreme Court ruled that only traditional bingo games were legal in the state. Marshall began enforcing the law shortly after. The court order freezing Lipscomb’s accounts is effective until a December 2nd court hearing.
In an opinion article shared from a state political reporting website, the columnist talked about the Lipscomb case and how archaic, in their opinion, Alabama’s gaming laws are. According to a number of residents in Lipscomb, agents from Marshall’s office conducted a raid on Jay’s Charity Bingo – an electronic bingo hall in the town. Noted above, a judge then froze all city assets, including money in bank accounts, until a proper review of the assets could determine if they were connected to the bingo halls. The funds almost certainly are, since the bingo halls – there are four of them all together in the small town – are the town’s only true source of tax revenue.
The author then gives some background on the town. First off, the City of Lipscomb has been issuing permits for bingo halls (including halls offering electronic games) since at least 2012. And the halls have been present in the city even before that time. Moreover, there are dozens of such bingo halls scattered around Jefferson County, many of which are fully operational today. Additionally, several other towns in Jefferson County have been issuing bingo hall permits. The explanation for this, the article says, is that numerous judges and law enforcement officials in several counties around Alabama believe that the Supreme Court is simply wrong. They believe that the constitutional amendment process that their counties undertook to pass bingo amendments is the ultimate determining factor and that they cannot be undone by any judge, even the Justices of the Supreme Court.
However, the rub here, the article points out, is that Marshall appears to have entered this fight only because he was invited. The author then says that all these factors together create an environment of uneven enforcement.
Once you are all up to speed in relation to the latest gambling news and notes coming from the Cotton State, make sure to check out the excellent array of info for you over at SBS. For additional insights and analysis on the topic here, make sure to bookmark the sports betting in Alabama guide which goes over the latest gaming news coming from the region. Additionally, for those interested in diversifying their deposit and withdrawal options, look no further than the payment methods rundown which goes over a variety of information from crypto to more traditional banking routes if you qualify. Finally, for the ones looking for some higher-stakes wagering, make sure to check out the VIP sports betting sites breakdown which covers a variety of tips and tricks for VIP wagering and more. Here you can learn more about VIP wagering.
About the Author
As a devout aficionado of sports, Chris Boline has carved a career within the athletic realm. A skilled scribe, he boasts a decade-long portfolio that encompasses coverage of the NBA G League, the Los Angeles Chargers, football and basketball across the country. Beyond his professional pursuits, Chris is deeply invested in his community and dedicates his leisure hours to serving on boards, collaborating with community organizations, and cherishing the company of loved ones. CURRENTLY Business Development and freelance sports writing RESIDES IN Reno, NV EDUCATION University of Nevada BS and MBA EXPERTISE -Sports writing proficiency in: NFL, NBA, UFC, boxing, golf, and some motor sports -Topical news -Promotional and marketing ideas/updates -Business development Summary Chris Boline serves in a business development sales capacity as his day job. He has previously held sales/marketing positions with The Applied Companies (TAC), KTVN 2 News and the NBA G League’s Reno Bighorns, affiliate of the Sacramento Kings. He is a Reno native and is a member of various community boards including the Nevada Sagebrush Alumni Chapter, NCET and the College of Business Alumni Association (COBAA). Chris graduated from the University of Nevada in 2015 with a bachelors in management and economics and also earned his MBA from Nevada in 2023. More about Chris: Past president of the College of Business Alumni Association (COBAA) 2022-23 Two-time honoree for University of Nevada Alumni Chapter of the Year (Nevada Sagebrush Alumni Chapter, 2017 & COBAA, 2021) 2021 NCET award for Professional Services Organization of the Year with TAC Northern Nevada Human Resources Association 2020 Best Places to Work-Northern Nevada, Second Place with TAC 2016-17 Reno Bighorns MVP from the Sacramento Kings The Nevada Sagebrush editor-in-chief 2013-15 Associated Collegiate Press 2015 Four-year Non-daily Newspaper Pacemaker honoree University of Nevada, Reno College of Business Dean's List honoree (5x) from 2011-2015 Nevada Press Association award for Best Sports Column – Community in 2015 Education
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