© Lawrence Specker | lspecker/al.com/TNS Wind Creek Atmore. It is one of only three gaming properties operating in Alabama on land owned by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians.

Alabama lawmakers are cashing out their poker chips on gambling and lottery legislation before the dealer calls a game.

Not one gaming-related bill has been introduced this spring requesting a vote on a constitutional amendment to legalize any form of gambling – after repeated attempts over the past decade and two years after a comprehensive gaming package almost squeaked out of the Legislature during the waning days of the session.

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It is now close to a quarter century since voters last got a chance to decide if the state should have a lottery. Only five states remain without one.

“With only nine legislative days left, I don’t anticipate any gaming package introduction this session,” said state Rep. Andy Whitt, R-Harvest, who Alabama House leadership assigned to handle issues related to gambling initiatives.

Whitt said a group of around nine House lawmakers are formulating a plan – perhaps, for the 2024 session — that could represent a breakaway from the previous comprehensive gambling strategy backed by the Alabama Senate.

Could that finally mean a vote on the lottery for the first time since 1999?

All future bets are on the table, Whitt said.

“Our approach is detailed, open to new ideas and not driven by the desires of gaming interests and their lobbyists,” Whitt said. “Previous gaming study commissions have tried and failed, so we will use those failures as a roadmap of what not to do. In all candor, the previous legislative efforts were driven by what best served the gaming interests, and their high-paid lobbyists, but this effort is being driven solely by what will best serve the people of Alabama.”

He added, “Rather than taking a 10,000-foot view of Alabama’s gaming options, our group is looking at the issue through a microscope and determining the pros and cons of each option.”

Surprising silence

Whitt’s comments come after State Senator Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, continued to push for the Alabama House to originate a proposal. He said that previous gaming measures were backed in the Senate, only to flounder when they got to the House, including the 2021 package.

“The Senate has done our job,” he said. “We have on several occasions. Unless the House takes it up and at least give it a debate time, there is no need for us to waste our time on it.”

Albritton said he was surprised, however, that not one bill was introduced this session.

Not much has been said about the issue, either, from legislative leaders or from Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s office. Ivey was vocal about her support for the 2021 legislation.

“I was under the impression there would be several bills,” Albritton said. “One bill to allow sports gaming and a bill prepared to do online gaming. There was a bill to do a straight lottery that was also being worked on.”

Whitt said there is no timetable for rolling out a new proposal. He said his group was told “to take the time necessary to get a full picture” and then to “suggest a commonsense, comprehensive, workable plan, and build the support necessary to pass it through both chambers.”

Indeed, with all gambling options off the table, Alabama will continue to be among the few states without legalized gambling of any form that produces revenues for state and local governments.

Gambling expansion opponents – such as Greg Davis, president and CEO of Alabama Citizen’s Action Program (ALCAP), an organization that lobbies the Legislature on behalf of churches – say the pause is only temporary.

He anticipates the push for gambling to heat up in 2024, ahead of the November presidential elections when the issue could appear on the ballot for the first time since 1999.

Davis said he believes opponents will be able to get their say in quashing future considerations.

Davis said he is not surprised by a lack of any gambling bills introduced this session.

He noted that newly appointed Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, signaled in February there was no momentum for a gambling package this spring. Part of the hesitation is due to the large freshman class in the Alabama House – 31 of 105 House members are new.

Albritton told AL.com in February that he did not believe the influx of political newbies was a good enough excuse, noting that gambling has been before lawmakers for more than two decades.

Waiting game

The heavy hitters on the issue are still angling for a comprehensive package, though they realize nothing is happening this year.

The 2021 plan included a lottery, six new casinos, sports betting, and a statewide regulatory commission.

Four of the casinos would have been at the state’s greyhound tracks in Birmingham, Mobile, Greene County and Macon County – where parimutuel and some video racing is already allowed. A casino would have been placed in Houston County. The sixth would have been in northeast Alabama and operated by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians under a compact with the state.

“The longer this issue is not addressed, unregulated, illegal gaming will continue,” said Kristin Hellmich, spokesperson with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, the only federally recognized Indian tribe in Alabama and the only operators of gambling casinos.

The tribe’s Wind Creek Hospitality group operates hotels and casinos in Atmore, Wetumpka, and Montgomery. All three are on sovereign territory and are authorized for Class I and II gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) – bingo and non-banked card games.

The state does not receive revenues from the bingo games.

“As a result (of a lack of a legislative gambling plan), Alabamians will continue to not benefit from hundreds of millions in tax revenues that are being lost each year,” Hellmich said.

Some lawmakers say the timing isn’t ripe for a gambling push. They said the state is flush with revenues, noting an all-time high Education Trust Fund that includes a whopping $2.8 billion surplus.

“It’s hard to do gambling at a time when you have plenty of money to spend,” said state Senator Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro. “That’s the essence of it. The gambling bills (in the past) have come with the ability to fill gaps for different funding sources.”

He added, “We’ve got $2.8 billion in the education budget, and (approximately) $1.3 billion in General Funds. We got more money than gambling could bring to us.”

Said State Senator Chris Elliott, R-Daphne, “We have huge budget surpluses and the need, if you will, for additional revenue from gaming is not nearly as great as it has been in the past. That’s dampening the enthusiasm as there was in the past.”

Alabama, according to a 2020 report from a gambling policy study group, is leaving a lot of money at the table by not having casino or online gambling, sports betting, and lottery.

Danny Sheridan, the legendary oddsmaker and Mobile native, said too much money is leaving Alabama to surrounding states that have casinos and lotteries. He advocates for lawmakers to negotiate a compact with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians for $500 million a year or open up casino gambling and sports betting to competition.

“If you don’t have competition, you cheat the state out of hundreds of millions of dollars,” Sheridan said.

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