Slot Machines are Not Legal

According to the Alabama Supreme Court, the Birmingham Race Course has been operating illegal slot machines under the guise that they were something else. The case had previously been tried in Jefferson County and the machines were ruled as not slot machines and therefore legal. This ruling by the Supreme Court is overturning that ruling and telling the race track that the illegal slot machines have to go.

The owner of the race course, Milton McGregor, said that with this kind of ruling they are making not just the so-called slot machines illegal, but any kind of sweepstakes. He said those that are operated by fast food restaurants could be considered illegal as well if you follow the ruling. He said that since the Jefferson County ruling that the machines were not slot machines, many other businesses have offered similar machines across the 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.

McGregor said that he is planning on asking the court to reconsider as by taking away the slot machines you are taking away “hundreds of jobs.” His attorney, Mark White, said that the track took many steps to ensure the legality of the slot type machines before they offered the games to their customers. White also said that by ruling on the slot machines the way they did they will cause Alabama to lose money to neighboring states who offer lotteries or slot machines. “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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