Even UA students are being affected by an ongoing battle being waged over gambling in Alabama.

As Governor Bob Riley campaigns against bingo halls across the state, students here at the University of Alabama have lost scholarships provided by bingo halls that have been forced to close their doors.

Greenetrack was a casino in Greene County that supplied scholarships to a number of University students. Tondra Johnson is one of the students who lost her scholarship when Greenetrack closed.

Johnson, a freshman majoring in biology, said she was expecting a scholarship to be provided to her for the fall of 2010.

“The scholarship was for $3,500,” Johnson said. “It was awarded to me at the beginning of each semester.”

Now Johnson finds herself an incoming freshman who has lost the financial aid she was relying on for her freshman year at the Capstone.

“I am going to have to find another way to pay for my books and my housing because I will not have enough money for second semester,” Johnson said.

Johnson said she would most likely get a job to fund the remainder of her first year on campus.

“I was really upset because I needed that money for school,” she said. “I lost my scholarship because Bob Riley closed Greenetrack and they no longer have any money to pay for the scholarships that they were going to provide.”

Marisha Snoddy, a freshman majoring in accounting, found herself in a similar situation after losing her Greenetrack scholarship.

“I never received my scholarship due to Greenetrack closing,” Snoddy said. “But not receiving this scholarship, it makes it harder for me to purchase books every semester because that was money that I depended on that is now unavailable.”

Because Greenetrack is no longer in operation, Snoddy said her $500 scholarship will not be paid.

“I felt very upset about losing the scholarship because I knew that it was money that could have been very beneficial to me, especially towards purchasing books,” Snoddy said.