The tide may be turning for gamblers in the USA.

The tide may be turning for gamblers in the USA. This weekend, a rally, which will feature some of the world’s biggest bands – The Commodores, for example – is being held at the Capitol and State House, with the aim of swaying the government to lift legislation on electronic bingo machines in the state of Washington. They plan to convince the electorate to come out and vote in favour of bingo machines.  This coincides with a boom in the popularity of online bingo in the United States.

Democratic Senators, Bobby Singleton (Greensboro) and Quinton Ross (Montgomery) are amongst those rallying people to vote.  They belong to the newly created Campaign for Jobs and Justice Committee.

Participants in the rally will march through Washington, finishing at the State House, which is responsible for passing legislation in Alabama. In recent years, legislation regarding the facilitation of gambling in the state has largely failed to pass; the aim of the rally is to change this trend in favour of gambling.

The rally was organised, in part, to protest against the decisions made by Gov. Bob Riley, and also the Alabama Supreme Court.  

The state’s high court deems slot machines and electronic  bingo machines illegal in Alabama. Riley has, in the recent past, formed a special task force charged with the aim of closing all non-Indian casinos in Alabama. Indian casinos continue to fall under the jurisdiction of the federal courts.

Many casino and gambling outlets (such as slot machine lounges) have been closed down in Alabama over the past few years. And, they have the law on their side.

However, the flip side, according to Democratic lawmakers, is that thousands of people have lost their jobs due to law enforcement. What was once a legitimate career, for which people train over many years (a good croupier, for example, will have honed his skills over his entire career), have now become illegal. These people are left with no work, but worse, they will have little training in other fields of employment because they have focused their careers within the gambling industry.

However, Riley’s press secretary has an opposite view, that gambling would drain the local economy to a greater extent than it would replenish it:

"It's clear that casino operators are attempting to sign up as many Democrats as they can to go out and vote in November. They're hoping that if they can just get more Democrats elected, maybe the Legislature will finally legalize their casino empire so they can make millions off the backs of Alabamians."

"They squeeze money out of communities and send it to out-of-state gambling bosses," said Riley’s spokesperson. "Places that have legalized casino gambling have paid a high price. They've paid an economic price, losing jobs and exporting billions of dollars from local economies. They've paid a social price, seeing crime rates skyrocket. They've paid a political price, too, as powerful organized gambling bosses have taken a stranglehold on governments. Governor Riley doesn't want to see any of that happen in Alabama."

Val Goodson, who is the chairwoman for the Campaign for Jobs and Justice, and has also been made redundant due to recent legislation banning many forms of gambling, has argued that legislation is driving people out of work, which then leads to them relocating to other states in search of a decent job. Therefore, the legislation itself is driving people away from the local economy, and therefore reduces government income as fewer people mean less tax.  

Singleton, Goodson and Ross have argued that Riley’s task force has suppressed the rights of voters.

"We have been forced to fight to the ballot box," said Goodson.

Those involved in the rally are said to include the Alabama New South Coalition, the Alabama Democratic Conference, the Alabama Legislative Black Caucus, and also many of the people who have lost their jobs due to gambling legislation.

Certain people are touting the rally as an attempt by democrats to sway the electorate in favour of voting for them, rather than a concern with the actual issue of gambling itself. But, one committee member has said; "It's not a Democratic or Republican issue,", stating categorically that the issue was about work and industry and not an easy vote.

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