It's okay, they'll easily make this money back by pulling over people who carry cash and steal it seize it because it smells like marijuana.

Super Soaker 50: It's okay, they'll easily make this money back by pulling over people who carry cash and steal it seize it because it smells like marijuana.

That's why I always fart on any large bills I carry. You don't want to know what I do with the singles I give to strippers.

What they don't mention much is that they raided victoryland, a casino, for electronic bingo machines. This isn't the rows and rows of septugenarians quietly drooling over bingo cards that we're used to, or even the men in the little cars with fez hats..

//and who calls their casino 'victoryland'? That's definitely got a third-reichy feel to it.

Were all the cops named Hermann?

Did you just mark down B 14? Put down that little pencil.

PUT DOWN THE MOTHERF*CKING PENCIL

Weaver95: "No matter what it costs, the law must be enforced," Emerson said.

And once you run out of money, what then?

Then they enforce "safety statutes".

The sad thing about this is, and it is big news here in Montgomery, that people are so worked up about Bingo. I mean really? Bingo? Its about as fun as guessing how many Jelly Beans are in a big jar.

Bibgo and cooking minutiae; Two Fat Ladies got their shows name from the British bingo call aka, 88 or Two fat ladies. From Clarissa's book.

And Bingo was his name oh.

Anything that keeps 200 Alabama troopers off of the highway at 4AM is a good thing.

Hmm...the word "warrant" appears nowhere in the article.

I think this link gives a little more detail on what is going on. My favorite part in this article is that the lead troopers at each location were asked if they had a warrant. The troopers responded "Not at this time." Maybe your typical citizen might not realize you need warrants for this kind of thing, but did they really think someone running an illegal operation wouldn't know this beforehand?

My brother works for a company out of Tenn that makes those machines, so I am getting a kick, etc.

Obvious overtime fundraiser.
Roll Tide!

Two raids. That's only $65,000 each.

I bet you feel silly for questioning the expense now.

"No matter what it costs, the law must be enforced," Emerson said.

That is simply not correct at all. As one counterexample, you wouldn't mobilize the entire police force on overtime pay to catch a jaywalker, even though jaywalking is illegal.

In fact, the point at which the law should NOT be enforced is when the cost of doing so is greater than the cost to society of the crime occurring.

"The bingo ball tumbler will be down in moments, my lord. You may start your landing."

How do you get 150 old ladies to say fark at the same time?

Get one to yell BINGO.

200 troopers at 4 am. That's a whole shiatload of overtime pay for those guys. And yes, I am quite sure that is exactly the point.

Marcus Aurelius: /made you flinch a little

Came for this, left satisfied.

offacue 2010-01-30 09:52:40 PM
How do you get 150 old ladies to say fark at the same time?

Get one to yell BINGO.

Oh, please, can i get this on a teeshirt?

The problem is that these machines are not bingo, no matter how Milton McGregor spins it. The operators of these establishments are taking advantage of an AL constitutional amendment that allows charity bingo. These are slot machines, and illegal under Alabama law. Slapping a sign that says "bingo" on it doesn't make it bingo. Several lower courts have already ruled them illegal slot machines. I'm not aware of a single court ruling otherwise.
As for the issue of a search warrant, one is not required to seize the machines, they are clearly illegal. The only reason a search warrant would be necessary is if they are trying to build a criminal case against the operators. They have not in other cases, simply ordered the establishments closed. My feeling is that the machines should just be seized, crippling the operations. Let them sue to get them back, and face the burden of proving the games are legal.
The AL Supreme Court has already issued a ruling as to what constitutes bingo, and these operations don't meet the criteria. This case will end up back there.

Bingo..!

Heh, gambling laws. Kind of like drug laws but even less sensible.

The place is named Victoryland because it used to be a dog track.

And this is not a standard bingo parlor with cards and bingo markers. It's 6,000 machines that play an "instant" game of bingo when you pull the handle. I suppose the operator can set the odds that your random card wins against 1 to 10,000 other random bingo cards given a particular sequence of numbers, thereby setting the payout.

Standard slots work in a similar manner, that a particular set of shapes will appear on three or four reels. To adjust the odds, the slot machine logically spins a much larger wheel, where most of the spots map to the blank spot before and after the jackpot space. Looks like it will payout soon, but never does.

The pseudo-bingo machines are skating on a technicality that had not previously been addressed, pulling in bank under the guise of donating the proceeds to charities.

/charity does begin at home, right?
//operating costs, payroll, kickbacks, bribes, anything left?

offacue: How do you get 150 old ladies to say fark at the same time?

Get one to yell BINGO.


Hell yeah

Weaver95: "No matter what it costs, the law must be enforced," Emerson said.

And once you run out of money, what then?

Easy - you increase the price of breaking the law (Fines) and become a state sponsored pseudo-collection agency

Actually, it didn't cost the taxpayers a thing. The $130,000 lost would have come from, well, taxpayers.

You sunk my battleship

I'm working at a casino right now, so I'm really getting a kick...

If you look in the corner of the screen, you will see a little bingo card - that 'supposedly' makes it an electronic bingo game and makes it 'legal'.

But ask your average patron (or casino employee) and they'll tell you they're 'slot machines'.

planes: Actually, it didn't cost the taxpayers a thing. The $130,000 lost would have come from, well, taxpayers.

But they must make an impression on the perps public.

Weaver95: "No matter what it costs, the law must be enforced," Emerson said.

And once you run out of money, what then?

That's what all those red-light cameras are for.

"No matter what it costs, the law must be enforced," Emerson said.

Funny, after I told the officer this after he watched me get assaulted and he told me he wasn't going to do anything about it but laughed at how I just got my ass kicked, he just hit me in the face with his flashlight.

More than 200 troopers were mobilized around 4 a.m. Friday and waited for hours before raids planned by the governor's antigambling task force were called off.

What, couldn't get any the officers to dual spec into healing?

"Forde said he doesn't believe the two massive operations Friday morning were worth the cost and time involved."

Be nice when they wake up and start thinking like this about drug laws.

"Gov. Bob Riley's communications director, Jeff Emerson, said the troopers were doing their job to enforce the law."

You know who else claimed they were 'just doing their job' and 'just following orders'?

"No matter what it costs, the law must be enforced," Emerson said.

Authoritarian dickheads like this should never rise higher than Chief Toilet Scrubber. They should also be sterilized and never let to be alone near children.

I remember during one of those Operation Falcon clusterfarks a bunch of assorted popos came to my workplace to interrogate me about someone who might have lived in my apartment before I rented it. I never did get the proper written apology I asked for... guess I should have gone with the internal investigation. If theres anything a pig hates, its having to admit hes wrong; and the higher his rank, the more skilled he is at dodging accusations and covering up mistakes.

Weaver95: UNC_Samurai: Weaver95: "No matter what it costs, the law must be enforced," Emerson said.

And once you run out of money, what then?

Then they enforce "safety statutes".

how do they plan on doing that when they can't pay anyone to get into a cop car and chase down the bad guys?

Easy, they levy a sin tax to pay for red light cameras. Or if you're our governor, steal from the Highway-Only Fund.

/Housey! Housey!

I've spent some time in Alabama, and actually there are some cool places there, in between all the rednecks and bigots.

But really, how is this even in the top ten list of problems that Alabama has right now?


/Bama cops are seriously stupid and power-hungry. Why did it take 200 of 'em to pull granny away from the slot machine bingo? How badly trained are they?

Johann65: My feeling is that the machines should just be seized, crippling the operations. Let them sue to get them back, and face the burden of proving the games are legal.

You do understand that that isn't the way the legal system is supposed to work. You should never have to prove innocence, only lack of guilt since it's the government's constitutional duty to prove guilt. Otherwise it's like being arrested for murder because you were drunk last night and don't remember where you were. After all, if your alibi is "I was drunk, I don't remember," then you aren't proving you were innocent.