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The Alabama Senate Republican Caucus is now discussing and gauging support for the comprehensive gambling proposal approved in the Alabama House last week. 
Discussions are more likely than votes this week, several members told Alabama Daily News.
“I think there’s a hesitancy to move quickly,” Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, said about what to expect in the Senate.
The bills to allow for the sale of lottery tickets, up to 10 casinos with table games and slot machines, and sports betting passed the House with a majority of the chamber’s Republicans voting for it. 
In the 35-member Senate, the bills don’t yet appear to have yet the GOP support to get to the 21 yes votes needed to put the constitutional amendment before Alabama voters in the fall.
Getting to the November ballot may take a combination of the Senate’s eight Democrats and 13 of the 27 Republicans. Albritton, who will sponsor the bill in the Senate, said the proposal passing without most of the GOP voting for it would be less than ideal.
“(But) I’ll take the votes wherever I can get the votes because this is the best thing for the state,” he said. “I believe this is a good bill and that this will take several things off the table we’ve been struggling with and if we don’t deal with it, it’s not going to go away.”
Proponents say the plan is needed because Alabamians have long wanted a lottery, illegal enterprises are operating unchecked and a patchwork of local laws have confused the issue for decades. Plus, the state is losing hundreds of millions of dollars in potential revenue, they say.
Opposition to the proposal varies. Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, who voted for a similar proposal in 2021, said it’s too much, too soon.
“In Alabama, we do everything else incrementally,” he said. “We do the (repeal of the sales tax on groceries) just a little bit at a time so we don’t mess anything up. We do school choice a little bit at a time so we don’t mess anything up.
“We talk about gambling and it’s like, strip naked and run down the pier and dive headlong into the shallow water.” 
Division of revenue
House Bill 151 is the constitutional amendment that would go before voters in November. House Bill 152 is the 140-page legislation outlining how and where the various games of chance could operate, the commission that would oversee them, their taxation and how the state’s revenue might be spent. 
Combined, the three forms of gambling would generate for the state $635 million to $913 million per year, according to the Legislative Services Agency.
Casino and sports betting revenue would be put in a new state trust and lawmakers could decide each year how it’s spent. The plan lays out some suggestions, but they’re not requirements, including mental health care; rural health care, including health benefit plans for the low-income Alabamians below 138% of the federal poverty line; road improvements and new construction; and bonuses for state employees and teachers and retirees. 
Similarly, state revenue from a lottery would go into a new fund to be distributed annually for purposes including but not limited to: gambling addiction recovery programs; a “last-dollar” scholarship program for community college and technical school educations “for in-demand fields to meet instructional and workforce training needs throughout the state;” dual-enrollment programs; distribution to local boards of education for capital and school security expenses. 
The bill specifically says lottery proceeds can’t be spent on prisons. It doesn’t prohibit lawmakers from spending casino or sports betting revenue on them. Lawmakers are seeking funds to pay for a planned 4,000-bed men’s prison in Escambia County.
“The (revenue) would certainly give us more resources with which to deal with the problems in the state, whether that be mental health, whether that be health, whether that be prisons, all of that,” Albritton said. 
‘Time and opportunity’
The Alabama House moved quickly in dealing with the comprehensive gambling proposal, passing the two-part package one week after it was introduced. That pace may slow down in the Senate, where members have priorities of their own and questions about the proposal.
“We want to ensure that all members of the Senate have time and opportunity to study the legislation,” Senate President Pro Tem Greg Reed, R-Jasper, told ADN. “The Senate is prepared and ready to address gaming and lottery legislation passed by the House of Representatives and will follow our normal and proven processes and procedures for this legislation. The Senate’s goal for any piece of legislation is to make Alabama better and her future brighter.”
The bills are expected to be assigned to the Senate Tourism Committee, where Albritton said he has enough support to move them to the Senate floor.
In the House, all 28 Democrats voted for both gambling bills. Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, said he expects similar Democrat support for the bills in the Senate.
Albritton has previously championed comprehensive gambling bills. One last cleared that chamber in 2021 with just eight Republicans voting against it. But a few Senators who were supporters three years ago now say they are either opposed or undecided.
Elliott said that while HB152 outlines in general where the 10 casinos could be located, as currently written, it’d be easy for future Legislatures, lobbied by gambling interests, to change or expand that. He said his constituents don’t want casinos in Baldwin County.
“We have all of the growth we need right now,” Elliott said. “And that is not the type of growth that we want.”
Another concern among Republicans, several told ADN Monday, is the placement of the constitutional amendment on the Nov. 5 general election ballot. The proposal could drive voter turnout and there’s expected to be a competitive race in the newly drawn Second Congressional District.
“I don’t think any Republican lawmaker wants to be in the position where even the possibility of who controls the United States House of Representatives, when the makeup is as close as it is, could be hung around their neck,” Elliott said.
Beyond that race, the referendum could increase turnout and impact many local elections across the state, Sen. Dan Roberts, R-Mountain Brook, told ADN on Monday.
“There are a lot of concerns on both sides of the aisle,” Roberts said. “Many want it there, many do not.” 
Albritton probably has as much interest in voter turnout in District 2 as anyone — he’s running to be the GOP nominee.
“I’m the one who should have a concern if it were something to be concerned about, but it’s not,” he said. 
A lottery and gambling proposal needs to be decided by as many Alabamians as possible, he said, and that won’t happen if it’s relegated to a special election where special interests can better control the narrative.
Roberts, who was a no vote in 2021, said one of his major concerns with the new bill is the expansion of sports betting, which would allow for wagering in person, online and on mobile devices.
“Addiction to these handheld devices is already a problem,” he said. 
Rep. Chris Blackshear, R-Phenix City, sponsored the package in the House and said he stands ready to answer any questions from Senate members. Blackshear is part of a House group that has spent more than a year studying the gambling issue and what that body might approve.
“Their members need time to read the two bills, do their own homework and ask any questions they may have …” Blackshear said. “My main thing was getting the best piece of legislation together and educating the members of the House to make a vote, which we did Thursday. Hopefully that same process will follow in the Senate.”
Sen. Tim Melson, R-Florence, was a “yes” in 2021 because he said he’s always believed Alabama voters should get to decide this issue. But as of now, he’s a maybe. 
He said he’s concerned 10 casino sites across the state would affect the quality of the operations. A few well-established, destination sites could be better than 10 “glorified bingo parlors.”
“If we’re going to try to be Vegas, let’s not be redneck Vegas,” he said.
Organized opposition
Albritton said opponents, including the Alabama Farmers Federation, are working hard against the bill.
The Federation’s opposition to gambling is “clear and unequivocal,” and no changes to the bills are going to change that stance, Brian Hardin, Alfa’s director of external affairs, told ADN on Monday. The organization is raising specific concerns with Senators on both sides of the aisle, including the possibility for corruption and that the rules drafted in HB152 could later be changed in the future to allow for more casinos without another constitutional amendment.
Meanwhile, there’s no requirement that local residents get to vote before a casino license is issued in their county.
Similarly, the conservative Alabama Policy Institute won’t ever support a gambling bill, but is citing some specific concerns in asking Senators to “press pause” on these proposals, President Stephanie Smith said. 
It’s not only a huge expansion of gambling, she argued, but a huge expansion of the government. The legislation creates an Alabama Gaming Commission and an enforcement division within it. 
When comparing this proposal to the structure of other states with legalized gambling, “this bill leaves a lot to be desired,” Smith said. 
Albritton said those who claim gambling will bring “evil” and social ills to the state “have their heads stuck in the sand.”
“We’ve already got (gambling),” Albritton said about illegal slot machines and off-shore sports betting. “It’s already here. We’re already suffering the ills of it. And have none of the gains. We have all the problems and none of the opportunities to deal with it. We’ve tried to shut them down, we tried it in various ways. And that’s our fault because of the (local) constitutional amendments and various court decisions.”
The Poarch Band of Creek Indians, which currently has three casinos with electronic bingo machines that mimic slot machines, also has concerns about the bill that would allow for expanded gambling at its current sites and a fourth location in north Alabama. In a written statement the tribe said that while it remains “hopeful that lawmakers will pass legislation that harnesses the full power of gaming for the benefit of all Alabamians, we cannot support this legislation in its current form.”
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