AL Governor Under Criticism for Gambling
Friday, January 15th, 2010Governor Riley of Alabama took some criticism last year. Riley made a bet with Florida Governor Charlie Crist over a football game. He ended up paying off the bet, but it opened a slew of problems for him. Riley has been a strong critic of bingo gambling in his state. He has long petitioned against the games, believing them to be illegal. As with any state, Alabama is drawn sharply on two sides regarding gambling. There is one side who has been gambling for years on video and bingo machines. They believe it is too late to pull the plug on games now, after years of operating. On the other hand is the group who believes bingo gambling is detrimental to society as a whole and will inevitably increase crime, money laundering, addictions and the overall cost to sustain it.
Riley was a critic who worked hard to keep the games out of the state. Part of the problem was that Riley set himself up as a strong opponent of betting and gambling of any kind. He took the staunch side of anti-gambling, citing that it should never be allowed. Then, he made a public bet himself.
Once Riley lost the bet to Crist, he knew there were problems. Despite reservations, he paid off the bed to Crist. That opened the door to a barrage of critics saying that Riley is a hypocrite. He doesn’t want gambling and has spent so much time decrying it to the public, but then he makes bet himself. Alabama residents have been shocked with Riley’s efforts to take away their bingo halls. Riley has set up a task force to seek out these “illegal” gambling establishments, and confiscate the video machines the bingo was being played on. After Riley’s bet, many voters became disgruntled, drawing comparisons between bingo gambling and football gambling. One of the disgruntled residents even pointed out that bingo is legal in some states, while sports’ gambling is illegal in all states except for Nevada and Delaware. Now that Riley has partaken in gambling, it is going to be hard to go back and erase the mistake. It also will be hard for him to remain in the fight against bingo gambling.
