As technology evolves, so does bingo.
At Wind Creek Casino in Atmore, an electronic version of the game is played on slot-machine-sized devices bearing names like "Super Fireball Frenzy," "777 Blazing," "7 Heaven," "Money Bars," "99 Bottles of Beer" and "Texas Hold'em."
But there's a distinct difference between a slot machine and the bingo machines at Wind Creek: On bingo machines, the winning combinations of bars, triple sevens and playing cards are all illusions."It's a result of a prize you already won by playing bingo," said Warren White, vice president of systems and technology for Bally Technologies, which provides bingo machines for Wind Creek.
With a slot machine, gamblers play against the house. With electronic bingo, gamblers are supposed to play against each other, while the house collects a percentage of the winnings.
Each bingo card may be linked to 40 other cards, or perhaps 400 others.
Although the player may concentrate on the bigger screen of whirling animated numbers and cherries, the tiny bingo card tucked in a corner actually determines wins and losses.
Gambling opponents protest that it's difficult to prove how the machines pay out, and that the only way to know is to open them up.
Wind Creek executives did not respond to requests for interviews about the technical aspects of the bingo machines at the casino, which is owned by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians.
Daniel McGhee, Tribal Gaming Commission administrator for the Poarch Creeks, said federal agents inspect the machines quarterly to make sure the casino meets standards set by the National Indian Gaming Commission.
According to the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, a tribe may only offer the same type of gambling allowed elsewhere in the state.
Eric Johnston, a Birmingham lawyer who represents gambling critics, said that a tribe would stand to make more money from slot machines because they are played individually and pay out at a lower frequency.
"It's not what it looks like on the outside, it's what it looks like on the inside," Johnston said. "The only people who know are the people who are operating them."
He added, "If every one could be inspected and you had honest inspectors looking at them, you wouldn't have a problem."
Said Gary Palmer, president of the conservative think tank Alabama Policy Institute: "It's electronic gambling. That is the bottom line. The only thing that even makes it even remotely legal is that it's bingo by some huge stretching of the definition of the word.
"If the objective is to put money in a machine and hit a button and watch the wheels spin and the lights flash hoping that you'll get some kind of match, how is that different from trying to get five cherries or five sevens?"
The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act divides trial gambling into three classes:
The first class is designated for social games played for "prizes of minimal value," such as home poker games or tribal ceremonies.
Bingo machines fall into the second class, which states in part that the "holder of the card covers ... numbers or designations when objects, similarly numbered or designated, are drawn or electronically determined."
The third class covers all other forms of gaming, and thus includes slot machines.
"In practice, the Class 2 machines are getting to be really close to slot machines," said Nelson Rose, author of the book "Gambling and the Law." "And although they're getting a lot like slot machines, they are not as good."
The odds of winning fall under the purview of the tribe that manages the casino, Rose said, and "they can pretty much do anything they want."
Bally's bingo machines can function so long as at least two games are under way simultaneously, according to White.
A preset number of players will be linked to a network -- gamblers who started the game at roughly the same time -- and the numbers are electronically drawn until someone wins. The whole process may take only seconds, and each floor of a casino can be loaded with several player networks.
"After the bingo game is completed, there could be another animation to present the prize to the player," White said. "It's basically entertainment. It's typically a casino-style game because that's what people like."
The arrangement of the numbers on the bingo card determines the size of the prize.
Gamblers start a new game by touching the screen to choose another card.
The Bally machines also offer progressive jackpots that pay out when four numbers match the corners of a bingo card, White said.
At Wind Creek on a recent weekday afternoon, most players appeared focused on the animation, while others quickly flipped through different bingo cards.
One woman helped another player who sat down next to her. She tapped the illuminated button and took a drag from her cigarette as the reels flashed before them.
Of the bingo card in the corner, she said, "I don't even worry about that at all."