Alabama Senate Approves Shrunken Gambling Bill

An Alabama Senate committee has eliminated full casino games and sports betting from the new gambling legislation bill.

The scaled-back version of the new gambling legislation that was approved on Tuesday continues to authorize a lottery in the state.

The new developments do not match the legislation that received the approval of the Alabama House on February 15, which featured up to seven new casinos, sports betting, and a lottery.

Another change brought by the new version of the bill refers to the date when Alabama voters would need to officially decide on the constitutional amendment that is necessary for the approval of the legislative package.

Instead of the originally chosen general election term in November, the committee has decided upon a special election term on September 10.

Rounding Up Sufficient Votes to Pass the Legislation

As explained by Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, the changes to the bill were needed to make sure a sufficient number of votes in favor of the new legislation would be obtained.

The Senate Tourism Committee gave the green light to the legislation on voice votes. This means the bill will be considered by the Senate, where three-fifths of the senators’ votes (21/35) would be needed for the constitutional amendment to pass.

In the event this would occur, the legislation would then go back to the House because of the fresh amendments made by the Senate.

Provided the House would agree with the changes, the legislation would go to a conference committee that would do their best to reach a compromise between the two proposed versions.

The legislation would create a gaming commission featuring its own enforcement division that would limit, regulate, and tax gambling.

At the same time, the fresh rules would not only revoke the local constitutional amendments related to gambling, but also prevent future ones while limiting gambling to several locations including the racetracks in Macon, Greene, Mobile Counties, Jefferson, Macon, Greene County, and the bingo halls in Houston County and White Hall in Lowndes County.

While casino games and electronic bingo would be off the table, the new plan could allow the Poarch Band of Creek Indians tribe to provide full-scale casino games at its venues on tribal lands in Montgomery, Atmore, and Wetumpka.