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It needs to be settled once and for all, Barron said during a news conference. We need to pass legislation putting this issue out to voters. Let voters decide if they want to tax and regulate on this issue.

Barron joined about 10 other legislative Democrats addressing the bingo issue, on the heels of Gov. Bob Rileys attempts to gain legal authority to continue raids on the some of the states major bingo casinos. One of those is VictoryLand in Shorter.

Its become a circus, Barron said. The administration has pulled all the troopers across this state off the roads and sent them to Dothan and Macon County to serve court orders on private properties. This needs to stop. If the governor and the task force want to go to these properties, they need to get the proper orders and go in the light of day. It needs to stop.

Another senator called for the resignation of Mobile District Attorney John Tyson Jr. as the head of the states antigambling task force over allegations of gambling-related campaign contributions.

Riley said the decision by VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor to close the facility and update computers there Tuesday is proof gambling machines were operating illegally. The casino’s attorney said the computer changes at VictoryLand are not related to its electronic bingo machines, but the closure did prevent the Governor’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling from raiding the casino without first getting a search warrant.

Also Tuesday, the governor defended Tyson, the commander of Riley’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling, after the disclosure by the Mobile Press-Register that Tyson received $100,000 in campaign contributions from McGregor, the state’s most prominent casino operator, in a race for state attorney general in 2006.

The charge prompted Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, to call for Tysons resignation on Tuesday, but Riley said the donation has not stopped Tyson from enforcing Alabama’s gambling laws.

“It proves Milton McGregor or no one else is going to buy John Tyson,” Riley said.

Asked why he sought McGregor’s donations, Tyson told The Associated Press, “Mr. McGregor is a major player in elections in Alabama.”

Tyson said he wouldnt be slowed in his goal of shutting down illegal gambling machines statewide.

“We’re coming. We’re not going to allow illegal gambling and illegal bingo machines to operate in a few counties in Alabama when 62 other counties can’t do it,” he said in an interview.

Developments in Alabama’s battle over electronic bingo were playing out as fast as the machines operate:

Several Democratic legislators called on the Republican governor to end his efforts to raid casinos. Sen. Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery, said Riley was wasting “hundreds of thousands of dollars at the time that the Great Recession is eating away at state revenue, and teachers and state employees are looking at layoffs and furloughs.”

An electronic bingo hall planned for the Birmingham suburb of Midfield delayed its opening after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday that bingo machines planned for nearby Ashville would be illegal.

Country Crossing at Dothan, a tourist attraction with 1,700 electronic bingo machines that closed Friday, remained closed. No reopening date has been set.

The Alabama Supreme Court received the final arguments in the case that could clear the way for a raid at VictoryLand.

Legislators prepared to introduce a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow Alabama citizens to vote on keeping the games operating by regulating and taxing them. A sponsor, Rep. Marcel Black, D-Tuscumbia, said the bill would be introduced when a Senate filibuster breaks.

Tyson, a Democrat who is district attorney for Mobile County, got picked by Riley to lead the task force last month because the previous commander resigned after winning $2,300 at an Indian casino in Mississippi.

On Jan. 27, questions came up about whether Tyson had received campaign contributions from gambling interests in his unsuccessful race for attorney general in 2006.

“I did not and I would be happy for anybody to review the receipts we have for the campaign,” Tyson told The Dothan Eagle last week.

But McGregor told the Mobile Press-Register that Tyson asked him for $150,000 in donations in the 2006 campaign, and that he gave Tyson $100,000.

Tyson acknowledged receiving the $100,000 and said he thought the questions from reporters last week only pertained to donations from Indian gambling interests in Alabama because Country Crossing had challenged whether he had received any.

Tyson conceded Tuesday that he also may have received donations from the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, which operates three Alabama casinos.

Tyson said he sought and received donations from veteran Montgomery lobbyist John Teague, and at the time, all he knew was that Teague lobbied for many clients. Those clients include the Poarch Creek Indians, who donated to Teague’s PACs.

“From looking at the details of that report, it appears some of that may be Creek Indian money,” Tyson said Tuesday.

Under Tyson’s leadership, more than 200 state police tried to raid VictoryLand and Country Crossing early Friday morning without search warrants, but pulled back amid legal questions.

Country Crossing closed its doors before police arrived, which prevented the task force from entering without a search warrant.

The Associated Press contributed to this report