BINGO's DEMISE NEW CHAPTER

     The decision by the Alabama Supreme Court does not "put the nail in the coffin" of electronic bingo, as Governor Riley claimed, after it was issued on Friday.
     All the court did was rule that Riley, as Governor, has the power of the throne to shut down bingo establishments...that doing so is not exclusively the job of the Attorney General.
     But what the decision has really done is this: it has given voters a chance to shout loudly that it is the people...not some elected official...who have the real say over the fate of games of chance.

     A week from Tuesday voters will cast ballots in either the Democratic or the Republican Primary elections, and there are candidates of both parties who are pledging to "give the people" (how gracious!) the right to vote on gambling. 
     So on June 1st, voters can decide to elect a candidate who wants to put the question on the ballot, or a candidate who wants to "just say no" to gambling.
     I'm not usually a fan of "referendum" and "initiative", which specifically allow residents to collect signatures and put a question on a ballot themselves for a direct vote, with or without the blessing of a legislature. But the Alabama Supreme Court has handed voters a kind of referendum opportunity, by clearing the way for a decisive decision about what Alabamians should be allowed to do, or not do.