Chickasaw wants electronic bingo

CHICKASAW, Ala. - Chickasaw's Byron Pittman said future growth in his city could depend on electronic bingo.

Pittman said it would take hundreds of new businesses to bring in the kind of money created by just one electronic bingo operation. Pittman said a minimum of $2 million a year is money the city could put to good use.

"Repair parks, build new parks and increase our police department. We would like to put a full time Fire Department on," Pittman said.

The city approved an ordinance in July to allow electronic bingo. However, both the district attorney in Mobile County and Alabama Governor Bob Riley have said the machines are illegal. But Pittman said his small town has no plan to break the law.

"There's a gray area," he said.

According to Pittman, the Alabama Supreme Court has outlined six areas that would allow for bingo machines. He said that grey area is already leading to green for more than a dozen other cities in the state.

"There are several other facilities throughout the state that have opened up and continue to operate. And after the supreme court ruling, most of them shut down for a couple of days, reconfigured their machines and opened back up," Pittman said.

The Chickasaw Seniors were getting ready for their weekly bingo game at the Chickasaw Auditorium Wedsnesday. The city would like to replace the seniors scene with electronic bingo in the near future. The senior's  non-gambling bingo would move to make way for the revenue generating machines.

"I just don't think it's good for the city," said Dorothy Lender while on her way to the Senior bingo game.

But Kathy Wheat is in favor of the idea.

"It's fine with me. We're taking our money to Mississippi. Why not leave it here in Mobile or Chickasaw?" Wheat said.

Pittman said the auditorium will close at the first of the year because the city can't afford to continue to operate it. If electronic bingo takes over the building, the mayor said the transformation throughout the city would begin immediately.

Pittman said the city expects to vote on a contract with bingo investors within the next couple of months.