A police raid on the VFW Bingo Hall in Roebuck, Alabama ended with more than 1,000 bingo machines confiscated by state troopers.
The raid was requested by Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Falls who warned that he was considering targetting other bingo halls in the county.
The VFW bingo hall was raided at 6am on Monday 17 July; more than 30 Alabama Bureau of Investigation agents and state troopers were involved in the raid. Falls said he believed the electronic bingo machines breached state laws.
The electronic bingo machines were loaded onto trucks and taken away for inspection.
“This does not appear to be a charity bingo operation. This appears to be a casino operation,” Falls told The Birmingham News. “They are gambling machines; they are not bingo machines. The decision whether to make any arrests will be made later.”
He said he had received numerous calls about the bingo operation, varying from complaints that they offered illegal gambling to saying they created extra traffic in the area.
A spokesman for VFW said that they believed that they were fully compliant with the law and that all money raised by the hall went to charity. All electronic bingo machines were certified as Class II gaming machines, which were classified as legal by Alabama’s attorney general in a 2004 memo.
The VFW bingo hall is at 9150 Parkway East, Roebuck, Alabama.
