New case pulls back curtain on Lipscomb’s bingo operation, revenue

LIPSCOMB, Ala. (WBRC) - The Alabama Attorney General’s Office (AGO) is moving to seize remaining bingo proceeds paid to the City of Lipscomb in 2024.

The AGO filed a motion Thursday asking a judge to condemn and forfeit the remaining proceeds generated by the City of Lipscomb’s bingo ordinance. The prosecution argued the city shouldn’t be able to keep revenue created by what it calls illegal gambling operations.

The state used the filing to make a case for why the funds are illegal, stating it first put the City of Lipscomb on notice in 2021 that its bingo operations were illegal, but it took no action to stop the ‘illegal activity’.

The city reportedly received more than a quarter million dollars from bingo from January through October 2024 from monthly licenses and fees, according to the filing.

During the fall of 2024, investigators with the AGO served search warrants at Jay’s Charity Bingo and found bingo machines that were stolen from state evidence in Selma. Investigators removed more than one hundred machines in addition to the stolen games.

The motion states the city allowed Jay’s Charity Bingo to reopen despite the state shutting them down weeks prior and allowed at least other facility to open nearby.

In October, four days after the AGO requested the city’s bingo records, the city transferred $240,516.43 from its bingo account to the general fund, the filing states. In November, the state was granted a restraining order to freeze the funds.

Hours before Lipscomb and the AGO were scheduled to be in court over frozen assets, the Lipscomb City Council called an emergency meeting and repealed its bingo ordinance.

Wednesday, the state released $107,816.58 of funds back to the city in order for it to make payroll and meet other financial obligations for the month of December.

According to other court records, more than $70,000 is in the bingo account the AGO is asking a judge to forfeit back to the state. The city and the state are scheduled to take up this issue in court next week.

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