American Legion Post 134 v. Mississippi Gaming Commission

798 So. 2d 445, 2001 Miss. LEXIS 71, 2001 WL 279740
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 22, 2001
DocketNo. 1999-CC-00548-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 798 So. 2d 445 (American Legion Post 134 v. Mississippi Gaming Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Legion Post 134 v. Mississippi Gaming Commission, 798 So. 2d 445, 2001 Miss. LEXIS 71, 2001 WL 279740 (Mich. 2001).

Opinion

PITTMAN, C.J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. On the Court’s own motion, the original opinion in this case is withdrawn, and this opinion is substituted therefor.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

¶ 2. American Legion Post 134 (“Post 134”), located in Horn Lake, Mississippi, was the holder of a charitable bingo license issued by the Mississippi Gaming Commission (“Commission”). Post 134 regularly conducted bingo games in its bingo hall.

¶ 3. The Commission received a complaint about the bingo operations at Post 134 in October, 1996. Agent Sandra Am-mons (“Agent Ammons”), of the Enforcement Division of the Commission, was assigned to investigate the complaints. Agent Ammons attended several bingo games as an undercover agent and noted several violations of the Charitable Bingo Law, Miss.Code Ann. §§ 97-33-50 et seq. (2000).

¶ 4. The Commission completed its investigation and sent a notice letter to Post 134, dated June 16, 1997. A hearing was held on September 9,1997, which eventually resulted in the hearing officer’s revocation of the charitable bingo license held by Post 134. The hearing officer found that Post 134 had violated several charitable bingo regulations, including Regulation A, § 2(d)(7), Regulation H, Regulation J, Regulation N, § 5, and Regulation R, § 6, as well as state statutes Miss.Code Ann. § 97 — 33—53(i)—(j) and § 97-33-75(2)(c).

¶ 5. Post 134 requested a review by the Commission of the hearing officer’s decision to revoke the license held by Post 134. The Commission, after careful review, sustained the hearing officer’s revocation and issued an order thereby revoking Post 134’s license to conduct charitable bingo.

¶ 6. Post 134 then appealed to the Circuit Court of DeSoto County, the county in which Post 134 is located. Post 134 filed an application for a Temporary Restraining Order (“TRO”) And/Or Preliminary Injunction on February 6, 1998, without notice to the Commission. The circuit court granted the TRO which restrained the Commission from enforcing the revocation of Post 134’s charitable bingo license.

¶ 7. The Commission filed a Motion to Deny the Preliminary Injunction and dissolve the Temporary Restraining Order which was denied by the DeSoto County Circuit Court. The circuit court, on February 13, 1998, signed an Order Granting Preliminary Injunction, which allowed Post 134 to continue its operations in spite of the revocation of its license until the circuit court ruled on the merits of the appeal.

¶ 8. On February 16, 1999, the circuit court upheld the Commission’s revocation of the charitable bingo license but allowed Post 134 to continue operations if it filed an appeal to this Court. Such appeal was filed March 23,1999.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

¶ 9. Post 134 is located in Horn Lake, DeSoto County, Mississippi. Post 134 has held a charitable bingo license since October, 1992. Post 134 has regularly conducted bingo games in its bingo hall.

¶ 10. The Commission received a complaint about the bingo operations at Post 134 in October, 1996. Agent Ammons of the Enforcement Division of the Commission was assigned to investigate the complaints. She attended several bingo games as an undercover agent and witnessed several violations of the Charitable Bingo Act. The Commission completed its investigation and sent a notice letter to Post 134 dated June 16, 1997. A hearing was held on September 9,1997.

[448]*448¶ 11. At the hearing on the matter, Agent Ammons gave extensive testimony-regarding her visits to Post 134. Admitted into evidence were games programs, bingo paper, session reports, and monthly reports.

¶ 12. The hearing officer found numerous violations committed by Post 134. Post 134 was found to have violated Regulation H by failing to post the playing of several B-Swat games and winner-take-all games.

¶ 13. The hearing officer also found that Post 134 had violated Regulation J which requires that the operator submit to the Commission session reports listing all games played. Post 134 failed to list on the session reports the B-Swat and winner-take-all games that had been played.

¶ 14. Post 134 was found to have violated Regulation J on several session reports by failing to report any winnings from the B-Swat and winner-take-all games. As noted above, these games were not listed on the session reports as being played.

¶ 15. The hearing officer found that Post 134 had violated Regulation N, § 5, by selling bingo paper at discounted prices. Agent Ammons purchased bingo paper for $12 per pack. These packs were listed with the Commission as being sold for $14 per pack.

¶ 16. The hearing officer found that Post 134 had violated Miss.Code Ann. § 97 — 33—53(b)(i)(j). Specifically, Post 134 failed to end the bingo session at midnight on November 23, 1996, and begin a new session at 12:01 a.m. on November 24, 1996, as required by statute. It was found that Post 134 had falsified its session report for November, 1996, in violation of Miss.Code Ann. § 97 — 33—76(2)(c), by listing the session that began late on November 23, 1996, as actually beginning on November 24,1996.

¶ 17. Post 134 was found to have violated Regulation R, § 6, that requires that VLC machines be opened only after all activities have ceased for the day and opened in the presence of at least two employees. Agent Ammons testified that she witnessed Ronald Smith open the VLC machines by himself before the activities had ceased for the day.

¶ 18. The hearing officer found that Post 134 had paid compensation to two concession workers from the bingo accounts, expenditures that were not authorized by statute or regulation. Finally, the hearing officer found that Post 134 had played “bonus line” games in violation of Regulation A, § 2(d)(7). Post 134 did not dispute this finding.

¶ 19. The hearing officer, in his conclusion, noted that the violations of Regulations H, J, N, § 5, and A, § 2(d)(7), as well as the violation of Miss.Code Ann. § 97-33-75(2)(c), in and of themselves, warranted revocation of the bingo license. The hearing officer went on to note that the other violations committed by Post 134 further supported the decision to revoke Post 134’s charitable bingo license.

¶20. Post 134 requested a review by the Commission of the hearing officer’s decision to revoke the license held by Post 134. The Commission reviewed the record and transcript of the hearing and sustained the hearing officer’s revocation on January 22, 1998, and issued an order revoking Post 134’s license to conduct charitable bin go.

¶21. On February 2, 1998, Post 134 filed an appeal in the Circuit Court of DeSoto County, the county where Post 134 conducts its bingo operations. Post 134 filed an application for, and the circuit court entered, a Temporary Restraining Order (“TRO”) And/Or Preliminary Injunction on February 6, 1998, without no[449]*449tice to the Commission.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Scott M. Favre v. Jourdan River Estates, LLC
148 So. 3d 361 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2014)
Secretary of State of the State of Mississippi v. Gunn
75 So. 3d 1015 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2011)
Secretary of State v. Clyde H. Gunn, III
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2010

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
798 So. 2d 445, 2001 Miss. LEXIS 71, 2001 WL 279740, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-legion-post-134-v-mississippi-gaming-commission-miss-2001.