Montgomery, AL – The Alabama Supreme Court has blocked electronic bingo in Ashville.
The Ashville City Council approved an ordinance in December 2008 to allow electronic bingo. But the Supreme Court ruled Friday the ordinance did not meet state law. The justices said the ordinance did not require any action by the players, such as marking their matching numbers or announcing that they had won.
The unanimous ruling was a victory for Gov. Bob Riley, Sheriff Terry Surles, and District Attorney Richard Minor, who had challenged the legality of the city ordinance.
The ruling is the second in three months where the state's highest court has said bingo must involve human actions, rather than letting a machine do most of the work.
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