Gambling News: Federal Probe Into Alabama Attorney General’s Office

Reports surfaced on Monday that federal prosecutors were investigating Alabama Attorney General, Troy King, along with his possible connections to gambling.

King apparently has threatened to shut down some electronic bingo operations while allowing others to stay in business.  He claims to oppose gambling but believes that "some electronic gambling machines are allowed under constitutional amendments that authorized the bingo operations."

King and Alabama's Governor, Bob Riley, have butted heads over the issue of gambling in the state, particular in regard to the legality of bingo operations in Alabama. 

In last week's Gambling911.com gambling news, we reported on how Alabama's conservative Congressmen were looking to block any forms of online gambling in the state.

Prosecutors last week called at least six former employees of King's office -- including three former investigators -- before a federal grand jury that met over three days in Montgomery, according to the Birmingham News.

That paper also reported that, "while the grand jury is meeting in Montgomery, home of the U.S. attorney's office for the Middle District of Alabama, the investigation is being run by prosecutors from the Northern District of Alabama, headquartered in Birmingham and led by U.S. Attorney Alice Martin. Martin attended all three grand jury sessions last week, along with members of her staff."

.... In other gambling news, CNBC's Cramer has questioned why it is harder to obtain a gambling license in Vegas then it is to register as an investment advisor. 

"If the SEC were a bit tighter with the rules, we might have been spared Bernie Madoff and Stanford Financial," Tom Brennan of CNBC suggests, and he is probably right.

Cramer also questioned Obama's "head count" of the SEC increase.

"President Obama, in an attempt to move the federal regulator in the right direction, asked for a 13% headcount increase at the SEC. Cramer thinks that number should be closer to 3,000%," says Brennan.  "Laissez-faire doesn't work. The last administration proved that. So Washington needs to step up and fill the gaps. If we gave the manpower and political will to regulate the gambling industry, Cramer said, then we should police Wall Street just as heavily."