If you’re planning to visit Alabama (and you should at some point – it is an incredibly beautiful state) any time soon, you might wonder if you’ve touched down in an alternative reality. For the newspapers and bars alike are full of talk of the most unlikely of subjects: bingo.
You might find it hard to make a connection between your perception of bingo (blue rinsed old ladies duking it out for a meat tray down the local Mecca Bingo hall) and your perception of Alabama (grizzly chinned men wielding pistols while riding bareback over some mountains). However, the state’s peculiar licensing of gambling has made bingo an incredibly fierce issue of debate – with tales of skullduggery filling the popular press.
But why is the issue such a hot potato? It all stems back to the split between lawmakers at state and local level. Officially, the state has made bingo illegal on the basis that it is a gambling activity and Alabama is one of the American states that takes a hard line on the matter. At local level, many counties permit bingo as a charitable exercise – allowing church groups and the like to hold games as part of fund raising activities.
Of course, there are people who use these local loopholes to stage big money games that are, technically, illegal. The ensuing debate as to where the line should be drawn has become the touchstone for a major series of scandals and rows. The state’s Governor Bob Riley has taken a hardline stance, but opponents point out that it is kind of hypocritical as he accepted campaign donations from out of state gambling companies.
So: if you’re in Alabama err on the side of caution and don’t attend a bingo game. If you are really that addicted and need a bingo fix, there are many online bingo sites out there which you play in safety and away from the long arm of the Alabama lawmakers.