By John Zippert, Co-Publisher
Greene County District Judge Lillie Jones-Osborne issued an order, after holding an emergency hearing on Monday, January 13, 2025, to quash a search warrant that she issued to Sheriff Jonathan Benison in late December 2024, alleging that “illegal gambling machines” were in use by the Palace Live at its Knoxville, Alabama location. On December 30, 2024, sheriff’s deputies closed and padlocked the Palace Live.
The emergency hearing was requested by the Five Star Investment Company LLC, owners of the Palace Live, who had been licensed by the Greene County Racing Commission, to carry out pari-mutuel dog and horse racing, including simulcasting and the operation of Historic Horse Racing (HHR) machines at their gaming center. The Greene County Racing Commission was not consulted by the Sheriff in securing the search warrant from Judge Osborne.
In her order, the Judge, in addition to squashing the search warrant, ordered the return of all properties seized from the Palace Live. The Democrat has learned that the Palace Live re-opened for gaming last night, Tuesday, January 14, 2025.
At the emergency hearing on Monday centered around the legality of the Greene County Racing Commission to license pari-mutuel wagering in Greene County and whether Historic Horse Racing (HHR) machines require ‘skill’ to operate or are merely ‘illegal slot machines’ that should not be allowed in Greene County.
The lawyers representing the Sheriff, Flint Liddon of Birmingham and Troy King of Montgomery, were arguing that the HHR machines authorized by the Greene County Racing Commission were illegal gambling machines when they have been representing the Sheriff for years saying electronic bingo machines were not illegal slot machines but were allowed under Alabama Constitutional Amendment 743 permitting bingo on electronic machines in Greene County.
Lawyers for the Palace Live, including Glenmoore Powers and William Pompey for the Greene County Racing Commission, called Linette Brown, Chair of the Greene County Racing Commission, as a witness. She testified to the history of pari-mutuel greyhound dog and horse racing in Greene County since it was authorized in 1975 by Sections 45-32-150 and subsections .01 to .20 of Alabama law. The Racing Commission originally licensed Greenetrack for live greyhound dog racing, later for simulcasting of dogs and horses. The Racing Commission licensed Greene County Entertainment for simulcasting and Historic Horse Racing (HHR) .
When Greene County Entertainment was forced to close due to a lawsuit concerning sales taxes assessed by the State of Alabama, the company turned its pari-mutuel gaming license back to the Greene County Racing Commission.
The Racing Commission publicly advertised the availability of a license for pari-mutuel gaming in Greene County in the Fall of 2024. On October 4, 2024, the Racing Commission authorized a license to Five Star Investment Company, LLC which owns The Palace Live. The Palace remodeled its building for simulcasting and relaced its bingo machines with HHR machines. The HHR machines were certified by an independent gaming laboratory which ruled the machines were legal pari-mutuel wagering machines, similar to those used at Greene Entertainment, the Birmingham Racecourse and Victoryland in Macon County.
Part of the hearing was a discussion of whether the HHR machines involved skill or whether they were illegal slot machines. Another witness at the hearing, Justin Poole, Operations Manager at the Palace, testified that there is information on the HHR machines that players can access to handicap the races which is the ‘skill’ element of the machines. The Sheriff’s lawyers pointed out that a player can put money in the machines and spin about twenty times a minute, without reviewing the handicapping data if they wish to play the machines that way.
In her ruling, Judge Jones-Osborne said she was not ruling on the legality of the wagering machines at the Palace Live, but only if the search warrant should be quashed and the property returned to the owners. She said that the Sheriff’s deputies, “should have included the Greene County Racing Commission in their investigation before seeking a search warrant”. She then quashed the warrant and restored the property to its owners.
The Sheriff or the State of Alabama can appeal the judge’s decision in this case if they wish to continue the fight over the legality of HHR machines in Greene County.
Some knowledgeable observers of Greene County politics, said the Sheriff had pursued the search warrant to close the Palace Live because the proceeds of pari-mutuel wagering would be administered by the Greene County Racing Commission and not the Sheriff’s Office, which has administered all funds from electronic bingo. Since the State of Alabama has taken court action to close electronic bingo in Greene County, the Sheriff will no longer be administering or distributing gaming funds in Greene County.
The Greene County Racing Commission is currently advertising in the Legal Advertising Section of our newspaper “a bill to be entitled” which amends and updates sections of the 1975 law creating the Racing Commission. After advertisement for four successive weeks, this bill will be submitted to the Alabama Legislature as a local bill in the coming session. Among the amendments are changes to the Commission’s distribution formula for funds generated from pari-mutuel wagering. The purpose of advertising the bill is to elicit comments and suggestions from our readers to the Racing Commission and our Greene County legislative delegation.