Birmingham, Ala. - Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Falls on Wednesday ordered charity bingo halls in the Birmingham division of the county to close by November 1.

Falls cited a recent federal court decision along with Alabama Constitutional Amendment 386, which says bingo operations must contribute 100% of their proceeds to charities.

Charity bingo halls operating in the county only provide a fraction of their proceeds to charities.  The majority of the money collected is profit for the binog operators.

"What's going on here is illegal," Falls said.  "There is no way to legally profit from bingo."

"If this is done correctly, all the proceeds would go to charity," he added.

Falls anticipates bingo operators may soon take legal action and try to block the November 1 closing date; however, he feels confident that state and local statutes will support his position that the operations are illegal.  He added that those who originally drew up bingo provisions in Jefferson County were only doing so with churches and paper-type bingo games in mind.

The mandate to close applies only to bingo operations in the Birmingham division of the county, which includes U.S. Highway 78, Roebuck Parkway, Center Point Parkway, Homewood, Grayson Valley, and other areas.

Areas including Fairfield, portions of Hoover, all of Bessemer, and other western communities are part of the Bessemer Division of Jefferson County and are not affected by the mandate to close.  Bessemer District Attorney Arthur Green would have to issue an order similar to Falls' order to force those operations to close.

So far, there has been no indication that Green plans to issue such an order.

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