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Future Unclear At
Raided Gaming Center
It’s unclear as to what the future will hold for
the White Hall Gaming Center. The charity-run complex in White Hall,
Alabama, was the subject of a coordinated raid by the Alabama Bureau
of Investigation and State Police last Thursday, and has remained
closed ever since. During the raid, authorities seized over one
hundred devices that are believed to be slot machines, and therefore
illegal. The White Hall Gaming Center has touted the devices as
“bingo machines,” the likes of which are allowed by state rules.
Police also confiscated more than half a million dollars from the
establishment.
It took only a few hours for Collins Pettaway, the lawyer
representing the gaming complex, to file four motions to stop the
seizure of the devices after police burst into the center at five in
the morning. A Lowndes County Circuit Court recused himself, so
former state Supreme Court Justice Mark Kennedy will be in charge of
hearing the complaint for permanent injunction, declaratory
judgment, restraining order, and motion to void the search warrant
of the ABI and state police.
A representative for Governor Bob Riley's Task Force on Illegal
Gambling declined to say whether or not the raids were planned, but
it is known that the task force sent undercover agents to play the
suspected slot machines. The representative alleges that the machine
seized at White Hall do definitely meet the criteria established
within the state’s operational definition of an illegal gambling
device. Not all the devices at the Gaming Center were seized,
apparently there were only as many taken as needed to be
representative of each type. The representative stated that it is
believed that all the White Hall machines are illicit.
Back to March 2009 Archive.
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SLOTS DATA
