Alabama senator shops gambling proposal to chamber
Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee Chair Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, speaks with a colleague on the floor of the Alabama Senate on Feb. 4, 2025 in Montgomery, Alabama. Albritton said he is looking for a couple more votes before introducing a gambling legalization proposal. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
The chair of the Alabama Senate's General Fund budget committee said he is trying to round up a few more votes before introducing a proposal to legalize some gambling in the state.
Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, said in an interview last week that even with the 2025 legislative session over halfway through, there is still time for lawmakers to approve a gambling package, but he just needs 'a few more assurances.'
'I've got folks, two or three across the state, that need to be on board with this, but as far as number of votes, I think all we need is one, maybe two at the most,' Albritton said.
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If introduced, Albritton said, the bill would be a 'trimmed down' version of the legislation package approved last year, including a lottery, sports betting and regulation and 24% tax at Class II gaming, or electronic bingo, at six existing facilities. There would be no additional facilities that could open under the legislation.
Albritton also said he expects the draft legislation to bring in between $700-750 million in revenue.
'You won't see anything that you haven't already seen. This is a cut-and-paste job,' Albritton said.
If the legislation is introduced, it would throw one of the most divisive issues in Alabama politics into the waning days of the 2025 session.
Alabama's 1901 Constitution bans lotteries and gambling. Gambling that is legally present in the state is conducted in facilities authorized by local constitutional amendments or on land held in trust by the federal government for the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, a federally-recognized Indian tribe that operates casinos in Atmore, Montgomery and Wetumpka. The state is the last east of Mississippi without a lottery.
Attempts to create a lottery or expand existing gaming have been derailed by fighting between different gambling interests; battles between the House and Senate over how gambling proceeds should be spent and deep divisions within the GOP caucus, which holds majorities in both chambers, over the issue.
The Alabama House in 2024 approved a constitutional amendment and legislation to legalize a state lottery and gambling. The measure stalled in the Senate.
In the Senate, 20 senators voted for the constitutional amendment, one vote short of the three-fifths majority required for constitutional amendments. Albritton, who carried the package in the Senate, did not vote for it, citing concerns he was unable to address about the bills' intent to regulate, not condone, gambling.
Sen. Jack Williams, R-Wilmer, who voted in favor of gambling legislation in 2021 but voted against the 2024 measures said in a phone interview that he still has not seen any gambling legislation and does not know how he'll vote on it. He declined to answer whether he would support legislation similar to the 2024 bills.
'I just don't know where I am at on this bill,' he said.
Alabama House members last year sharply criticized the Senate's handling of the package, and House leadership has said the chamber will not take up its own bill this year. Rep. Chris Blackshear, R-Smiths Station, one of the driving forces behind last year's attempt to legalize gambling, said in an interview that any legislation would have to start in the Senate.
'If the Senate is able to pass a comprehensive gaming packaging this session, the House stands ready to receive it, review it, and develop a gameplay and move it forward,' Blackshear said.
A comprehensive package, Blackshear said, should address and increase fines for illegal gaming activity across the state, as well as the structure to enforce those new regulations.
Rep. Sam Jones, D-Mobile, who also worked on last year's package, said he's interested in learning more about how the revenue will be distributed, a point of contention between the House and Senate last year.
'Is all the revenue going to be dedicated to education? If not, then what happens to the rest of the revenue and how is it distributed for the other needs in the state?' Jones asked.
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