Tyson Responds To Gambling Ruling

Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson was quick to respond to a federal decision refusing to block the raid of a gambling hall in Dothan.

Tyson, who was tapped last week by Governor Bob Riley to head the Governor's Task Force on Illegal Gambling, called the judge's decision a "victory for the rule of law."

Country Crossing bingo hall in Dothan hoped U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson of Montgomery would block a raid by the anti-gambling task force. The bingo hall, which has some 1,700 electronic bingo machines, refused to allow law enforcement officers to enter their building last Friday.

The judge said Country Crossing and the task force should address their issues in state court rather than federal court.

Thompson refused to issue a temporary restraining order Monday.

"The gambling bosses who run Country Crossing undertook this desperate effort to stop the enforcement of Alabama’s gambling laws, and it failed," said Tyson. "If Country Crossing is reopened, then law enforcement officials intend immediately to arrest anyone seen engaging in criminal activity on the premises and to seize any illegal machines."