The state saves you from yourself again

An addendum to the August edition of the Alabama gambling guide: Sweepstakes machines are perfectly legal, too. Well, the kind at the Birmingham dog track are, anyway. Because, see, they involve access cards and computer time and recharge kiosks and, um, just read The Birmingham News' story, OK? All you need to know is that it's technically not gambling, so you can sleep easy tonight knowing that the place is "like a casino" but not quite.