March 3, 2010 (CAP Newswire) – In Alabama, one of the more conservative states in the U.S., a recent editorial in the University of South Alabama Vanguard publication argues that the state’s politicians should stop efforts to outlaw gambling (specifically bingo).
Their argument? If Alabamans can’t play bingo legally in the state’s bingo halls, then they’ll play it online.
The editorial was inspired by a recent raid on a bingo hall apparently ordered by Mobile District Attorney John Tyson Jr. last week. That set off a new round of debate on whether or not bingo was gambling, and whether all forms of gambling should be outlawed in the state.
“We at The Vanguard feel the simplest solution is usually the best one. Make gambling legal, and pour the tax revenues into education,” the editorial states. “Once you remove all the moral and religious arguments against gambling and look at the situation we have in Alabama logically, there really is no better option.”
The same arguments are often used to advocate legal online gambling; that, once you get beyond all the moral posturing, it makes sense to reap the rich revenues involved in gaming. “Legalizing gambling would keep the money in the Alabama economy and the tax revenues in the state’s dwindling bank account,” the article states. “Those revenues can be turned around to help our state’s desperate education budget, which lost more than $1 billion between 2008 and 2010.”
The article also points out the hypocrisy of banning bingo in a state that allows widespread betting on greyhound racing, making it similar to the Kentucky situation.
It’s fitting that the prevalence of Internet gambling, and in this case Internet bingo, itself under fire legally, is helping to make the case for legalizing all gambling, across the board. Perhaps this will place Alabama on the growing list of states that are making moves to legalize gambling both online and off.