Community suffers in the wake of VictoryLand shut down
While Milton McGregor battles in court to save his skin from a corruption case, his VictoryLand parlor remains closed and the community around it struggles.
Author Kym Klass writes a sobering article in the Montgomery Advertiser publication describing a community clinging on to nothing but blind hope after VictoryLand closed its doors. VictoryLand was more to the community than just a place to gamble, it employed about 2,500 residents and pulled large crowds around Alabama and neighbouring Georgia to the area which helped local businesses.
After being forced to shut down the 6,000 machines in the VictoryLand casino to prevent raids from Riley’s Task Force, the closure shattered families in the community and eventually lead to the closure of the dogtrack as well as VictoryLand’s hotel and restaurant.
As Klass describes, “jobs were lost, along with a community sense of securi¬ty…Those who have jobs know they are lucky to have them, and work hard to keep them — and those who lost their jobs over the task force are angry.”
Klass reports on a casino worker, Jeanette Higgins, 74, who worked at the casino from 1984 until earlier this year, and was among the longtime employees who still don’t know what happened or really understand why it happened. In her 27 years with the company, Higgins sold tickets, worked as a cashier and worked in customer service. She lost her job in February.
“Where am I going to go? I’m too old to start over, aren’t I?” she asks.
It’s a sad situation. For 27 years, this industry professional was able to make a living and provide for herself and then one day, she’s told that her job is illegal, and just like that, it’s over. Sadly, situations like this aren’t limited to land-based electronic bingo operations and casino in rural Alabama, it’s happening in the digital space as well.
It’s dis-heartening how the real victims are the hard-working people who lose their jobs and for many, their only source of income.
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