A newly circulated video showing visits to businesses connected to campaign contributors in Cullman County is adding fresh scrutiny to Sheriff Matt Gentry just days after he won the Republican nomination for Alabama Public Service Commission Place 1.
The video, shot by Hanceville resident and citizen journalist Daniel Joseph Davis and provided to APR, shows what appear to be multiple electronic gaming machines operating inside the Boost and Flow convenience store in the Bethel community of Cullman County. Several individuals can be seen playing the machines as Davis walks through the store and into a back room where the devices were located.
The store is connected to Hoover businessman Amin Dewani, who owns multiple convenience stores across central Alabama. His businesses have become the focus of scrutiny because of campaign contributions made to political committees supporting Gentry and Lieutenant Chad Whaley, who is seeking to succeed Gentry as sheriff.
APR previously reported that businesses connected through common ownership records, addresses and registration filings contributed about $90,000 over seven months to committees supporting Gentry and Whaley. APR also has reported on questions surrounding gambling machines operating at convenience stores connected to Dewani.
In a later portion of the video, Davis returns to the same room where the machines had previously been operating. This time, the room is empty.
When Davis asked a store employee what happened to the machines, the employee said they were “taking a break for a month,” before adding that they may return or may not.
Near the conclusion of the recording, Davis says he decided to make the video public because he believes Gentry should explain why machines at Dewani’s store continued operating while other gambling operations in Cullman County faced enforcement action.
Gentry has previously said gambling enforcement in Alabama remains legally complicated and that sheriffs do not have unilateral authority to determine what constitutes illegal gambling.
“To be honest, the state of Alabama has been arguing over what is ‘illegal gambling’ for decades, and they still can’t figure it out,” Gentry said.
However, records show the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office has taken a more active role in at least one other gambling-related case.
In 2021, after complaints surfaced about gaming machines operating inside a thrift store in Dodge City, the sheriff’s office requested an inspection by state authorities. The Alabama Attorney General’s Office later determined the machines were out of compliance with state gaming machine regulations, and the sheriff’s office served a removal notice on the operator.
Whether similar steps were taken regarding the machines shown in Davis’ video remains unclear.
That question appears to be at the center of an ethics complaint Davis says he filed with the Alabama Ethics Commission.
Because ethics complaints generally remain confidential unless the commission takes formal action, APR has not independently verified the status of the complaint with the commission. APR has, however, reviewed underlying documents related to the allegations.
The video itself does not establish wrongdoing by Gentry, Dewani or any other individual. Nor does it answer whether the machines shown were operating legally under Alabama law.
What it does show is that gambling machines were operating inside a convenience store connected to one of the largest known contributors to political committees supporting Gentry and Whaley and that those machines were no longer present when Davis later returned to the location.
The circumstances raise questions that remain unanswered.
If the machines complied with Alabama law, why were they removed?
If they did not, why were they operating in the first place?
For now, those questions remain at the center of a controversy that has followed Gentry from the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office to a statewide political campaign.
