According to a ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court on Friday, video sweepstakes games like the ones found at a Birmingham dog track are a form of illegal gambling, and are no different then a slot machine.
The unanimous ruling is a reversal of a previous ruling from the
Jefferson County Circuit Court, who previously ruled that the game known as MegaSweeps was not a lottery and ran on a different system then slot machines of gambling devices.
The way the game is played is people buy internet time from a machine called a reader. The reader automatically enters them into the sweepstakes and then tells them instantly if they have won or not.
According to the judge that originally ruled on the case the fact that the chance takes place at the point of sale and not at the source is unimportant.
The owner of the race track said the ruling could mean that all forms of sweepstakes could be made illegal, even those run by banks and fast food chains. Since the original ruling allowing such machines, several other businesses have purchased the sweepstakes machines in the Birmingham area.
It would seem that according to the supreme courts ruling that if it looks like a slot machine it must be a slot machine. The owner of the track also said that this ruling would mean the loss of hundreds of jobs.