MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A bill that would legalize some electronic bingo operations in Alabama cleared its first hurdle Jan. 20 in the Alabama House.

The House Tourism and Travel Committee approved the bill by voice vote with most committee members appearing to vote for it, but several “no” votes were heard. The bill would temporarily legalize electronic bingo games that were in operation as of Dec. 1. The bill now goes to the full House for debate.

More than 400 people gathered at the Statehouse for an almost three-hour sometimes emotional hearing. The committee heard more than two dozen speakers who made passionate pleas for and against legalizing electronic bingo. So many people showed up for the hearing in the House Chamber that some had to listen over speakers from other rooms scattered around the Statehouse.

Most of the arguments for the bill concerned the more than 1,000 employees at the Country Crossing electronic bingo facility in Dothan, 400 at Greenetrack in Eutaw and others across the state that would lose their jobs if the electronic bingo facilities are shut down. Arguments against the bill included the ill effects of addiction to gambling and that the games would mostly benefit the owners of the gambling facilities.

Greene County Commissioner Donald Means said before electronic bingo games at Greenetrack in Eutaw the county was in bankruptcy, county schools were in financial trouble and the county was one of poorest in the state. Means said the 400 jobs and revenue from the bingo games has improved the quality of life in the west Alabama county.

“I wrote the governor a letter and said if you destroy 400 jobs, what are you bringing to the table? If not bingo, then what for Greene County?” Means said.

But longtime gambling opponent the Rev. Dan Ireland said there would be more losers than winners from legalized electronic bingo.

“We are not talking about bingo. We are talking about gambling. We are talking about slot machines. All the money coming in is going to come out of the pockets of the losers,” Ireland said.

The bill, by Democratic Rep. Marcel Black of Tuscumbia, would stop Gov. Bob Riley’s antigambling task force from raiding and shutting down electronic bingo operations. The task force was about to raid Country Crossing in the middle of the night earlier this month when the Houston County Commission got a court order stopping the raid. That court order has since been thrown out by the Alabama Supreme Court.

Riley and other gambling opponents have argued that Black’s bill is unconstitutional because the state constitution makes gambling illegal and can’t be changed by a simple law.

“This is a horrible piece of legislation. It’s an attempt by gambling interests to pull a fast one on the people of Alabama,” said Rep. Barry Mask, R-Wetumpka.

Black said the bill is constitutional. He said it does not legalize new types of gambling, but says the electronic bingo games can continue if those types of machines are legal at Indian gaming facilities.

Black said he plans to introduce a proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize and tax bingo operations. That bill would have to be approved by voters statewide.

Efforts to legalize electronic bingo have mostly been supported by Democratic legislators and opposed by Republicans and a few conservative Democrats. But one Republican, Rep. Warren Beck of Geneva, said at Wednesday’s meeting that he would support a constitutional amendment to let people vote on the issue.

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