Walk onto any casino floor in Alabama and you will see rows of what look like slot machines. None of them are. Every machine in the state is one of two things: an electronic bingo game, or a historical horse racing terminal. They spin, flash and pay out like slots, but the way each decides a win is different, and that difference explains almost everything about Alabama's casinos, including why none of them has a blackjack table or a poker room.
The short version
| Electronic bingo | Historical horse racing (HHR) | |
| Where | Wind Creek Atmore, Montgomery and Wetumpka | VictoryLand at Shorter, Birmingham Race Course |
| Who runs it | Poarch Band of Creek Indians | Racetrack operators |
| How a win is decided | A networked bingo game played among linked machines | The result of a past horse race, settled pari-mutuel |
| What it looks like | A slot machine | A slot machine |
Electronic bingo at Wind Creek
The Poarch Band of Creek Indians is the only federally recognised tribe in Alabama. It has no gaming compact with the state, and under federal Indian gaming law a tribe without one may offer only what the law calls Class II games, which include bingo. So every machine at Wind Creek's three Alabama resorts is, underneath, a bingo game. Each spin enters you into a draw played among many linked machines, and the reels on screen simply display the result.
The scale is large. Wind Creek Atmore, where the tribe opened its first bingo hall in 1985, eight months after federal recognition, now carries around 1,700 machines. Wind Creek Montgomery has about 2,200, and Wetumpka, the tribe's 20-storey tower on the Coosa River, is the biggest of the three. In play they feel like any slot floor.
Historical horse racing at VictoryLand and Birmingham
Historical horse racing terminals settle each wager against a database of past races, run through the pari-mutuel betting system. The race is anonymised and replayed in an instant, and the reels on screen are again just the display. If you have played an HHR floor in Kentucky, this is the same product.
VictoryLand, a former greyhound track at Shorter between Montgomery and Tuskegee, arrived here the hard way. For years its floor ran electronic bingo under a Macon County amendment. In 2013 troopers seized 1,615 machines. The casino reopened in 2016, and in September 2022 the Alabama Supreme Court ruled 7-0 that electronic bingo at VictoryLand and two other Black Belt venues was unlawful gambling. In early 2023 VictoryLand replaced every bingo machine with HHR terminals and rehired staff within months.
Birmingham Race Course runs more than 300 HHR machines on a 24-hour floor, plus year-round simulcast betting. Wind Creek Hospitality agreed to buy it in 2024, so the tribe that runs Alabama's bingo halls now owns its biggest HHR floor too.
Why there are no tables or poker
Live table games and poker are not provided for anywhere in Alabama law, and the Poarch Band's Class II status rules them out at Wind Creek too. That is why you will not find blackjack, craps, roulette or a poker room in the state. Players wanting cards drive to Mississippi, where Gulf Coast casinos operate under a different system.
What it means when you play
For players, the practical differences are small. Both machine types offer familiar themes, bonus rounds and a wide range of stakes. Two points are worth knowing:
- Results come from a game, not a random number alone. On bingo machines the outcome depends on a draw shared with other players, and on HHR terminals it depends on a past race.
- Pay tables are posted on each machine. Read them before you play, as you would on any slot.
Frequently asked questions
Does Alabama have slot machines?
Not in the usual sense. Machines at Alabama casinos are electronic bingo or historical horse racing terminals that look and play like slots.
Why does Wind Creek only have bingo machines?
The Poarch Band has no gaming compact with Alabama, so federal law limits it to Class II games such as bingo.
Can you play blackjack in Alabama?
No. There are no live table games or poker rooms in any Alabama casino.
What happened to VictoryLand's bingo machines?
After a 7-0 Alabama Supreme Court ruling in 2022, VictoryLand replaced them with historical horse racing terminals in early 2023.
For the venues themselves, see our reviews of Wind Creek Atmore, Wind Creek Montgomery, Wind Creek Wetumpka, VictoryLand and Birmingham Race Course, or our overview of casinos in Alabama.
