A state senator who has sponsored bills for a lottery, casinos, sports betting, and a gambling regulatory board for Alabama said he plans to propose similar legislation again this year.
Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, said Alabama needs to take control of gambling and obtain benefit from it because it is prevalent and unregulated.
“We’ve got to recognize that this industry is present,” Albritton said. “It is here. It is among us. And we as a state have got to control it.”
A lottery, casinos, and state regulation can happen only if legislators pass a constitutional amendment and send it to voters, who would have the final say. More than 180 gambling bills have died in the Legislature since voters rejected Gov. Don Siegelman’s lottery proposal in 1999. Forty-five states have lotteries, including the four that border Alabama.
This year’s legislative session starts March 7. For now, at least, it’s not clear gambling legislation will receive serious consideration this year. It is the first year of a new four-year term.
House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, newly elected as speaker in January, said he supports the idea of regulating gambling but did not commit to supporting legislation this year.
Ledbetter said there are evolving factors. Thirty-one of the 105 House members are new. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is pursuing lawsuits to close electronic bingo halls that operate under county constitutional amendments. Marshall has had some recent success in those efforts, which are backed by rulings of the Alabama Supreme Court that say the electronic machines are illegal gambling devices, like slot machines.
A Supreme court decision in September led to the shutdown of electronic bingo at two casinos in Lowndes County this month. The same ruling applied to electronic bingo at Victoryland Casino in Macon County, which also halted electronic bingo this month, said Dr. Lewis Benefield, a Montgomery veterinarian who is president of the casino and son-in-law of Victoryland founder Milton McGregor. In addition, the attorney general is seeking court orders to shut down the games in Greene County, where there are at least four bingo halls.
Electronic bingo halls have continued to pop up in other places, including Jefferson County, despite raids and arrests by Marshall’s office a few years ago, which the attorney general said were necessary because of a lack of local enforcement.
“I think there’s a lot of things that’s got to be cleared up,” Ledbetter said. “I know Senator Albritton is really wanting to push this and he has for the last several years. But I don’t know that until all that gets cleared up, how strong a piece of legislation could be.”
“I don’t know what the Supreme Court’s ruling is going to do to it,” Ledbetter said. “I don’t know what the attorney general is going to do with it. So I think there’s just a lot of moving parts that make it difficult to have anything go forward.”
Multiple factors have stopped lottery and gambling bills over the years, including how they would affect the local bingo establishments and opposition from those flatly opposed to expanding gambling. ALCAP, an organization that lobbies on behalf of churches, has been a consistent opponent of lottery bills, arguing, in part, that a lottery would hurt poor people who buy a large share of lottery tickets.
Ledbetter said he planned to talk to Gov. Kay Ivey about the issue. Albritton said he planned to work with Ivey and the House leadership.
A gambling study group appointed by Ivey issued a report in December 2020 that said a lottery, casinos, sports betting, and regulation of gambling could generate $510 million to $710 million a year in state revenue. After the report, Ivey supported a three-bill package during the 2021 session that called for a lottery, six new casinos, sports betting, and a regulatory board. It passed the Senate but died without coming up for a vote in the House.
Albritton proposed a similar plan last year but it died in the Senate.
On Friday, Ivey said her view has not changed.
“There is discussion on that topic and I still support a comprehensive bill that allows the people to vote on whether they want to have gambling. So we’ll see how it works out,” Ivey said Friday when asked about the prospects this year.
Albritton agrees that a comprehensive package, similar to what he proposed last year, is the right approach, as opposed to, for example, a stand-alone lottery bill.
“That would allow the state to gain complete control over any and all gaming in the state,” Albritton said. “Regulate it heavily. Tax it heavily. Control the growth. Cap it. And benefit from it and also have the means to deal with the ills that gaming brings in that’s already here. To provide the services for those that have trouble with that.”
Albritton’s bill last year would have created a state lottery and allowed casinos at the site of the state’s four greyhound tracks in Jefferson, Mobile, Macon, and Greene counties, smaller casinos in Houston and Lowndes counties, a casino in northeast Alabama operated by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians under a compact with the state, and a 20 percent tax on net gambling revenues for casinos and sports betting. Albritton said he’s planning to introduce a similar bill this year but wants to wait and see if a bill is initiated in the House.
“It does no good if the House refuses to pick it up, if the House refuses to deal with it,” Albritton said. “Unless the House gets their head out of the sand and continues to ignore the issue, we’re stuck with where we are.”
Ledbetter dismissed Albritton’s “head out of the sand” comment as nonproductive.
“I don’t go into that stuff,” Ledbetter said. “That’s more backyard kindergarten stuff. My thing is to do business for the state. And I don’t get into that kind of crap.”
Rep. Joe Lovvorn, R-Auburn, who is part of the new House leadership team as the Rules Committee chairman, said he had not seen any gambling legislation this year.
“As always, gaming and the lottery continues to be a discussion, as to how to address current gaming, lottery as compared to surrounding states, sports betting etc.,” Lovvorn said in an email. “I’m not sure of the stance on gaming with our new members and look forward to the discussion.”