- Slot Machines At Birmingham Race Courses
- Birmingham Race Course Slot Machines
- Birmingham Race Course Casino Machines
- Birmingham Race Course And Casino
- Birmingham Race Course News
Lawsuit seeking millions lost at dog track in Birmingham
TUSCALOOSA (AP) — The lawyer who won a legal battle against the sweepstakes games at the Birmingham dog track has set a new legal goal: recovering millions lost by gamblers who played the illegal sweepstakes.
Birmingham Race Course property details page: This casino can be found in Birmingham, Alabama. Birmingham Race Course features 0 gaming machines for you to indulge in. World Casino Directory also books casino hotel reservations in Birmingham. An Alabama court has ruled that Birmingham Race Course can legally operate more than 1,300 machines that look, sound, and play just like slot machines – but aren’t. Jefferson County Sheriff, Mike Hale, had raided the Race Course on December 15, 2005. Lembke represented Jefferson County District Attorney David Barber in a legal challenge of the sweepstakes games at the track. On Friday, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled 8-0 that the games amounted to illegal slot machines. Lembke followed up Friday’s victory with a new suit Monday afternoon.
Matt Lembke and members of his Birmingham law firm have filed a lawsuit against the Birmingham Race Course seeking to recover under a state law that allows customers to sue for money lost at illegal gambling, Lembke said Tuesday.
“The Legislature has made clear that people who offer illegal gambling cannot keep their ill-gotten means,” Lembke told The Associated Press.
Track owner Milton McGregor of Montgomery and his attorney, Mark White, were out of their offices Tuesday and not immediately available for comment, aides said. Monte Ballard, who handles marketing for the track, said he had not heard of the suit.
Slot Machines At Birmingham Race Courses
Money-losing customer
Lembke filed the suit on behalf of Debra Johnson of Birmingham, who he described as a money-losing customer of the track. But Lembke seeks to make it a class-action suit on behalf of all Alabamians who lost money and their immediate families.
Lembke represented Jefferson County District Attorney David Barber in a legal challenge of the sweepstakes games at the track. On Friday, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled 8-0 that the games amounted to illegal slot machines.
Birmingham Race Course Slot Machines
Lembke followed up Friday’s victory with a new suit Monday afternoon. He said he is using a state law that is more than a century old and that was used several times in the past for recoveries.
Recovery should not be difficult, Lembke said, because customers of the sweepstakes games opened accounts at the track, and electronic records of their winnings and losses should be available.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Subscribe today for only 38 cents a day!
The Alabama Supreme Court ruled today that judges in Lowndes County and Macon County erred when they dismissed the state’s lawsuits aimed at shutting down electronic gambling casinos in the two counties.
The justices ruled the courts must proceed with the lawsuits filed by Attorney General Steve Marshall in 2017.
Marshall claimed the electronic bingo games played at Victoryland and other casinos in the counties are illegal slot machines and asked the courts to declare them unlawful and block their use.
Circuit court judges in Lowndes and Macon counties dismissed the lawsuits at the defendants' request last year, in part because the state did not also sue casinos operated by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in Wetumpka and Montgomery.
The circuit courts held hearings on the defendants' motions to dismiss, but did not hold hearings on the merits of the state’s case before the dismissals.
Joe Espy, an attorney for Victoryland, said today’s decision means that the state will have an opportunity to prove its case but won’t force any immediate changes at the casino.
“The circuit court dismissed the state’s complaint without a hearing, which we argued was the appropriate way to proceed,” Espy said. “The Supreme Court has simply reversed that and said that the state is entitled to a hearing and an opportunity to prove its case. It has no effect on the current operations of Victoryland.
“The case at some point will be set for further hearings, and then we’ll proceed.”
Today’s decision follows years of litigation between the state and operators of electronic bingo casinos in counties that have approved constitutional amendments on bingo.
Birmingham Race Course Casino Machines
The state’s long-held position, which has been supported by previous Alabama Supreme Court rulings, is that the machines that look and operate like slot machines are, in fact, slot machines and don’t meet the legal definition of bingo.
Advocates for the casinos say voters in those counties voted to allow electronic bingo. They also argued that the state is engaging in selective enforcement because it did not include the Poarch Creeks' casinos in the lawsuit.
The justices rejected the assertion that Marshall should have included the Poarch Creeks' casinos in the lawsuits. Former Attorney General Luther Strange sued the tribe’s casinos in 2013, claiming they were a public nuisance and were operating illegal slot machines. But a federal judge dismissed the case, saying the Poarch Creeks were entitled to tribal sovereign immunity on the issues. The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision in 2015.
“The lack of jurisdiction is simple, direct, and unavoidable,” Associate Justice Brad Mendheim wrote in a separate and concurring opinion today. “Clearly, the circuit courts erred in ruling otherwise.”
———
Birmingham Race Course And Casino
©2020 Alabama Media Group, Birmingham
Visit Alabama Media Group, Birmingham at www.al.com
Birmingham Race Course News
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.