250 attend St. Clair County rally against legalizing electronic bingo

About 250 people attended the rally to oppose legalizing electronic bingo in St. Clair County, with 12 different churches participating, organizers said.

Religious leaders said the introduction of electronic bingo in Argo and Ashville will lead to increased crime, government corruption, suicides and divorces.

Gambling opponents gear up for bingo fight - includes a video showing the machines

“When you begin to break the math down, the economics of what looks good on the surface is really empty on the inside and we will pay more than we’ll ever gain,” Pastor James Sampley [First Baptist Church Ashville]

Bingo A “Gamble“ For St. Clair County?

“It does not raise the capital that a community needs because it’s going to be offset with the crime and cost the taxpayers a lot of money, says Ben Chandler of the St. Clair Baptist Association. He does not believe those 2500 machines will help the St. Clair County economy at all. In the end, the group calls electronic bingo a quick fix with temporary results and long lasting consequences.

Hundreds rally against bingo in St. Clair County

Mizzell compared the fight to a similar debate, when Gov. Don Siegelman’s statewide education lottery proposal was defeated in 1999.

“Here we go again,” said Mizzell. “How many times do we have to say we don’t want gambling in the state of Alabama? We don’t need it, and we don’t want it.”

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