STEVE FLOWERS: ALABAMA LOTTERY HAS LONG ROAD TO APPROVAL

A new Alabama lottery bill has passed its first big hurdle. WVUA 23 Political Analyst Steve Flowers stopped by the studio to discuss the ramifications of this new bill.

Alabama is one of five states in the U.S. with no lottery. Mississippi recently approved it, meaning every state surrounding Alabama allows the lottery.

But even if the lottery bill passes the full state Senate, the House of Representatives and Gov. Kay Ivey, it won’t be enacted across the state without it being put on a ballot.

The last lottery bill that went up for a statewide vote happened in 1999, and it failed by a narrow margin.

“Twenty years is a long time, and I think some of the social and religious complaints or concerns about the lottery have pretty much melted away,” Flowers said. “Even the most hardcore Republicans in our state would vote for a lottery, simply because they’re tired of our money going to Mississippi, Georgia, Tennesee and Florida.”

Alabama residents are playing the lottery, Flowers said. They’re just driving to another state instead of keeping the money here.