HB154 Alabama 2010 Session

This bill proposes a general law that will relieve non-Indian operators of bingo from certain legal disabilities that do not apply to Indian tribes conducting bingo under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act

To recognize that Indian tribes may conduct bingo games using electronic bingo equipment under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act ("IGRA") free of certain legal burdens that potentially encumber the non-Indian operators of bingo games in the state that are equivalent to the bingo games conducted by Indian tribes; to relieve certain qualified persons engaged in Indian equivalent bingo from legal burdens that are not applicable to Indian tribes conducting competitive bingo games; to define terms that include or are relevant to substantive provisions of this act, including Class II gaming under IGRA, Indian equivalent bingo, and any qualified person to be relieved of legal burdens under this act; to provide limitations on the scope of this act; to provide retroactively and prospectively that state and local sales or privilege taxes are inapplicable to the gross receipts or revenues of qualified persons derived from Indian equivalent bingo; to provide that there shall be no recovery from any qualified person of gambling losses incurred by patrons of Indian equivalent bingo; to provide that no criminal prosecution under any provision of Title 13A, Chapter 12, Article 2, Code of Alabama 1975, shall be brought or maintained against any qualified person for engaging in Indian equivalent bingo; to provide that bingo equipment permitted to be used in Class II gaming under IGRA shall not constitute, or be deemed to be, a "gambling device" or "slot machine" within the meaning of Section 13A-12-20(5) and (10), Code of Alabama 1975, if such bingo equipment is used by a qualified person engaged in Indian equivalent bingo; to preclude the forfeiture by any qualified person of real or personal property used or involved in Indian equivalent bingo; to declare that certain "gambling devices" as defined by federal law may be transported into or out of the state without violating federal law; to provide that the provisions of this act shall be severable; and to specify the effective date of this act.