Racetrack news source: Sun Herald - http://www.sunherald.com
Sweepstakes machines ruled illegal
Alabama Supreme Court reverses lower court decision
By BOB JOHNSON
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONTGOMERY - The Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday that video sweepstakes games at a greyhound dog track in Birmingham are illegal gambling devices, no different from slot machines.
The 8-0 ruling reversed a ruling by Jefferson County Circuit Judge Scott Vowell, who said the operation known as "MegaSweeps" at the Birmingham Race Course was not a lottery and did not involve the use of slot machines or gambling devices.
People play the game by buying Internet time on a machine, called a reader, which automatically enters them into a sweepstakes and the machine then tells them if they won or not.
"In the computer age, the fact that chance takes place at the point of sale, rather than at the readers themselves is simply inconsequential," said the opinion, written by Justice Tom Woodall. "The readers are slot machines as to those who pay to play them."
Birmingham Race Course owner Milton McGregor said the ruling could make any kind of sweepstakes illegal, including those operated by banks and fast-food restaurants. Since the Jefferson County ruling, businesses offering similar sweepstakes machines have opened across the Birmingham area.
"It appears that the Supreme Court concluded that our machines only had to resemble a slot machine in order to be a slot machine," McGregor said. He said the ruling would mean the loss of "hundreds of jobs."
McGregor said he plans to ask the court to reconsider its decision.
Gambling opponent John Giles, president of Christian Action Alabama, praised the ruling.
"We maintained from Day 1 the sweepstakes gambling operations were unconstitutional and illegal," Giles said.
Three justices, Lyn Stuart, Patti Smith and Mike Bolin, declined a request from the Birmingham Racecourse to recuse themselves because they had expressed opposition to gambling in political campaigns.
"Because my personal opinions do not influence my decisions as a justice of this court, I decline to recuse myself," Stuart said in the ruling.
Gov. Bob Riley had filed a brief with the Supreme Court, asking justices to rule the sweepstakes games illegal.
"These so-called sweepstakes machines are nothing more than dressed-up slot machines," Riley said Friday. "It is time we rid Alabama of these illegal gambling operations, and I'm very pleased the Supreme Court agrees."
McGregor's attorney, Mark White, said numerous steps were taken to make sure the sweepstakes operation was legal in Alabama before McGregor offered the game at the racecourse.
White said the ruling means Alabama will continue to lose money to neighboring states that offer lotteries or casino gambling operations.
"Again, our state is inhibited in its ability to compete with our neighboring states for revenues and funding that support local education, business and growth," White said. |
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