"Two Alabama casino operatives who pleaded guilty to trying to buy votes from Alabama legislators over an ill-fated gambling bill pushed by private casinos were sentenced to prison this week. A third defendant-turned-witness, then-state Rep. Terry Spicer, D-Elba, was also sentenced Monday for his role in the so-called Statehouse gambling corruption case.

Meanwhile, an Indian tribe near Montgomery just announced a $246 million expansion of its casino-resort just outside Montgomery. The project by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians on tribal lands in Wetumpka includes a 20-story hotel tower, a 90,000-square-foot gaming floor with more than 2,500 electronic gaming machines, a resort pool and entertainment rooms.

The tribe, operating under the decades-old federal Indian Gaming Act and subsequent U.S. Supreme Court rulings on gaming issues on tribal lands, also operates the Creek Casino in Montgomery and the Wind Creek Casino & Hotel in Atmore."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Clearer legal ruling needed on casinos (The Huntsville Times 7/18)

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Editorial: Weigh impact of $246M Poarch Creek casino expansion (7/16)