“I swore to uphold the laws of the State of Alabama, and I will continue to uphold the laws of the state,” Riley said during a teleconference Wednesday afternoon with reporters.
Riley said Alabama Attorney General Troy King has no authority to tell his Task Force On Illegal Gambling what to do and contends that electronic bingo machines are just illegal slot machines.
On Monday, King issued a statement saying that he was relieving John Tyson of his duties as the head of the Governor’s Task Force.
“He (Tyson) has had his chance with unrestrained authority and unlimited resources,” King said. “He has failed.”
King also directed Tyson to turn over all evidence gathered by the Task Force in Green, Houston, Jefferson, Lowndes and Macon counties during the past 14 months.
Riley said evidence King seeks is not in Tyson’s possession but belongs to the Department of Public Safety and the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, which King does not have authority over.
“If we turn the evidence over to the Attorney General, we might as well turn it over to the casino bosses,” Riley said.
He said King seeks to pursue the matter of the legality of electronic bingo through the civil, not the criminal court system, even though the Supreme Court has made it clear it would not hear declaratory judgments actions the attorney general wants to file.
Riley said if King pursued the electronic bingo issue through the civil courts, all documents and evidence are available for review by defendants in the case.
“That will destroy the criminal investigation and could endanger our undercover law enforcement officers, and we are not going to do that,” Riley said.
He said King’s proposal would allow criminals to continue committing crimes, illegal gambling, until the courts determine whether someone is actually committing a crime.
Riley said that is not the way the criminal court system works.
“Now, if a drug dealer, or child molester or car thief came to us and said that law enforcement could not arrest them until they had litigated in court whether their conduct was illegal, we would all laugh them out of the room,” Riley said. “All criminals subject themselves to immediate arrest for criminal activity. Yet, the Attorney General wants to treat people engaged in criminal illegal gambling differently from other criminals. I cannot understand that. A crime is a crime.”
Riley said it’s wrong for the state to shut down electronic bingo in 64 counties, but to continue to allow gambling in only three counties.
“I think we’re going down a slippery slope,” Riley said.
He said most district attorneys in the state believe electronic bingo machines are illegal gaming devices under state law.
Riley also alleged King withheld information the attorney general received in 2004 from federal authorities informing the AG Office of illegal gambling in Alabama.
Riley said King never passed that information on to the Governor’s Office or to the Department of Public Safety, and instead allowed illegal gambling to flourish.
“If the Attorney General had done his job then, we never would have had this explosion of slot machines that we now have to deal with,” Riley said.
The governor also said Wednesday a new version of the electronic bingo bill has surfaced in Montgomery.
He said the new version is worse than the first bill, which gave a gambling monopoly to a handful of people - at the best price in the country.
Riley called the proposed legislation the “most corrupt piece of legislation I’ve ever seen.”
“Why wouldn’t you bid it out?” Riley asked.
He said the new version gives a “blank check”, as to who could receive licenses and for how much. That is determined by lawmakers once the bill is passed by legislators and approved by voters. In addition, the new proposed bill doesn’t forbid campaign contributions by those with gambling interests in the state.
“There is a level of corruption,” Riley said Wednesday. “…People say I shouldn’t compare Phoenix City with what’s happening today, but the similarities are striking.
Riley was asked if he thought the Alabama Supreme Court put the city of Ashville, American Legion, Post 170, and Shooting Star Entertainment Group, LLC, vs. the St. Clair County Sheriff and District Attorney electronic bingo case, which both Riley and King joined during the appeal process, back on the court’s docket so the high court could further clarify “the game of bingo” as a game played on paper cards, or if the court could render an opinion as to King’s authority over the governor’s formed task force.
“I have no way of knowing,” he said.
Riley said it appears the Alabama Supreme Court wants to take up the electronic bingo issue again.
“The Supreme Court has been consistent with its rulings,” he added.
Riley said the Supreme Court provided requirements of what the game of bingo would entail, but the slot machines in Alabama that are purported as “electronic bingo machines” would not meet the standards set forth by the high court.
“A player can turn his back to the machine, hit a button three times and complete a game in about 10 seconds,” Riley said. “That’s not bingo, and that certainly does not satisfy the Supreme Court’s requirements.”
Code of AL
Section 13A-12-20
(10) SLOT MACHINE. A gambling device that, as a result of the insertion of a coin or other object, operates, either completely automatically or with the aid of some physical act by the player, in such a manner that, depending upon elements of chance, it may eject something of value. A device so constructed or readily adaptable or convertible to such use is no less a slot machine because it is not in working order or because some mechanical act of manipulation or repair is required to accomplish its adaptation, conversion or workability. Nor is it any less a slot machine because apart from its use or adaptability as such it may also sell or deliver something of value on a basis other than chance.