Tax returns show convicted ex-Birmingham mayor won 555 jackpots, $1.5M in electronic gambling

Taxes: Ex-Birmingham mayor won $1.5M in jackpots

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Former Mayor Larry Langford, who was ousted after being convicted of bribery, won 555 electronic bingo jackpots over three years at a casino run by a longtime friend and supporter, according to newly disclosed tax records.

The tax returns show he claimed winning about $1.5 million gambling at various casinos from 2006 to 2008, but he says he lost at least that much.

On one day in 2008, he won 36 jackpots totaling $96,000 at VictoryLand, owned by Milton McGregor.

Langford was automatically removed from office when he was convicted in October of taking cash and gifts worth some $235,000 from a Montgomery investment banker in exchange for directing lucrative sewer bond business to the banker’s firm.

The disclosures come as Langford prepares to be sentenced on Friday for his bribery conviction.

Assistant U.S. Attorney James E. Phillips is recommending that the 63-year-old get from 24 to 30 years, partly because of his “blatant and hostile failure to accept responsibility” for his crimes.

The tax returns were revealed in one of two separate civil lawsuits that claim VictoryLand and another casino, Greenetrack in Greene County, rigged their games to let Langford win. The casinos deny the claims.

The tax filings show 36 jackpots, totaling about $96,000, were won at VictoryLand on Feb. 9, 2008. The jackpots ranged from a little more than $1,000 to more than $14,000.

Langford told The Birmingham News, which first reported the tax returns, that he doesn’t remember hitting so many jackpots.

“I gamble a lot, everybody knows that,” Langford said. “But man, I don’t remember winning like that. I don’t remember.”

McGregor’s attorney, Mark White, said, “As Mr. Langford says, he was a frequent gambler, but he lost more than he won.”

White also said that “rigging the machines is an impossibility” and that a complaint will be filed with the court over the release of the tax records.

The odds of winning 555 jackpots over three years were not known. The odds and size of a jackpot can vary with each machine and the amount wagered. Bettors can play hundreds of games on multiple machines in one visit to the casino.

The sewer bonds involved in the bribery case were part of a financial fiasco that now has the county stuck with $3.2 billion in bond debts and trying to avoid filing what would be the largest municipal bankruptcy ever.

“The damage caused by this conspiracy will be felt for years as the citizens of Jefferson County once again must deal with the lasting effects of having been duped by a corrupt politician and his cohorts,” said Phillips, the federal prosecutor.

Langford’s defense attorney, Glennon Threatt Jr., did not immediately return a message Wednesday.