Bingo Only For Charity In Alabama

After the events of Black Friday, the entire US gambling industry is in turmoil; along with the online poker sector, other gaming factions including the bingo industry are being affected.

One of the more recent developments involves a notice issued by Luther Strange, the US Attorney General in Alabama, requiring all bingo games to be conducted for charitable purposes only.

Strange sent out the memorandum to district attorneys as well as agencies of law enforcement, advising that bingo games only be conducted for the sake of charity in Alabama.

The memorandum stated that online bingo as well as land-based bingo games had to be operated for charity purposes only and required all involved to adhere strictly to the constitutional amendment when such games were being conducted in Alabama. The memorandum also stated that electronic machines could be used to play bingo legally if they were not categorized as slot machines.

Luther Strange also commented on the issue where several counties had adopted laws and made changes to authorize bingo to be conducted for charity without allowing the same for slot machines.

The constitutional amendment at Green County only authorizes bingo to be operated by non-profit organizations. There are strict rules for these operations as well. The non-profit organizations cannot allow any other organization or company to run bingo on their behalf and the game must be run in their own premises or one that they have leased. Since there have been such cases in the past, the Attorney General wants to avoid the same now.

Greentrack, a private company that operated bingo on behalf of non-profit organizations was shut down by the former Governor’s Task Force for illegal gambling. The focus was on electronic machines which were categorized as slot machines. Greentrack is back in the game with another kind of machine for bingo, which has been confirmed to be legal by officials enforcing the rules.