The days of video gambling arcades in Calhoun and Cleburne counties appear numbered.
District Attorney Joe Hubbard is giving the establishments 10 days to close their doors or risk confiscation of the machines and prosecution of the operators.
His decision comes in the wake of a state attorney general opinion that the games are illegal.
"All forms of slot machines, including electronic and video gambling machines, are illegal under state law," pronounced Attorney General Bill Pryor in an opinion that declares a section of the Code of Alabama, known as the Chuck E. Cheese law, unconstitutional because of loopholes that lotteries can slip through.
Pryor's March 6 opinion doesn't carry the weight of law, but Hubbard anticipates the state's appellate courts soon will render similar decisions.
"In the meantime, we will begin to enforce the gambling laws of this state in accordance with the attorney general's interpretation," Hubbard said in a press release issued Thursday.
District attorney investigators started hand-delivering notices Thursday to the operators of video gambling arcades.
Last year, Hubbard and Sheriff Larry Amerson warned operators at Calhoun County's video gambling arcades that the machines would ultimately be deemed illegal.
"Based on the (attorney general's) opinion and the way it's written
I think the reasoning is incontrovertible," the district attorney said. "Because of that, I think it's sufficient and I think we'll convince any judge in this circuit that the activity is illegal."
In a decision last year, a plurality of the Alabama Supreme Court found that video gambling games violated provisions of the state Constitution because they are based purely on chance.
Alabama will lose tax dollars to Georgia and Mississippi if the adult arcades are forced to close, said Debbie Pitman. She too could lose if the courts rule the games are illegal, as will the four children and a grandchild that she and her husband support.
"I'm going to definitely be in the unemployment line," she said.
That's because Mrs. Pitman is a manager at the Gold Strike - an adult arcade at the Anniston Plaza that opened in November 2001.
Packed gaming rooms are evidence of the popularity of local adult arcades. The Gold Strike is open 24 hours a day, and Mrs. Pitman said at any given time customers are there, shoving dollars into the video gambling machines.
More than a dozen men and women, mostly women, were trying their luck on the machines Thursday night.
"If they would legalize it, they would have the money that their schools need, money to take care of medical needs, and we would have the money for things that Alabama needs," Mrs. Pitman said.
"If you can't do it where you want to do it," reasoned Mrs. Pitman, "you're going to go somewhere else.
"Gamblers are like alcoholics. They are addicted."
