In remarks about the state’s current budget crisis, which includes severe cuts, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley said, “We’re down 0 million and if the current budget passes, it is going to hurt everyone in the state of Alabama. The main thing I want to stress is people need to get in touch with their Senators and House of Representative members and let them know it’s okay to raise some fair revenue for taxes and really solve this problem.”
Legislators are considering a stripped-down $1.6 billion budget that cuts roughly $200 million from state agencies. Bentley, who wants to raise taxes by $541 million, has vowed to veto any budget with deep cuts to agencies and threatened to call lawmakers back into special session multiple times if needed. The 2015 legislative session by law must conclude by June 15.
But several lawmakers are pushing Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh’s plan that would approve and let citizens decide if they want a lottery and four Class III casinos at dog racetracks that could generate $400 million a year for the general fund budget. Marsh’s bill has passed through committee and is on its way to the full Senate.
Bentley opposes the gambling bill. “It would really not be a solution because we need all of this money by October the first and there is no way any of that money could incur by October 1. We need to do it right and not depend on gambling for the source of revenue. We need fair taxes and that’s the way we need to fund it,” he said.
House Speaker Mike Hubbard said he doesn’t believe there is support in either legislative chamber for the gambling bill. However, Marsh said he believes many legislators and voters would prefer legalized gambling to taxes and budget cuts.
Meanwhile the Poarch Band of Creek Indians have offered the state $250 million in exchange for offering table games in the tribe’s three existing casinos, plus exclusive gaming rights in the state. Robert McGhee, vice chair of the Poarch Creeks tribal council, said the offer meets federal regulations in the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Under the act, in order for a tribe to give something to a government, the tribe would have to get something in return. “It’s a fairness thing,” McGhee said. He described the proposal as a loan to the state. “Of course, in order for you to pay this back, you’re going to have to enter into an agreement with the tribe, a compact so we can determine how that payback will be arranged,” he said. The compact also allow would arrange a revenue-sharing agreement between the tribe and the state.
McGhee said the Poarch Creeks had proposed the plan to several legislators but not to Bentley, who said, “No one can negotiate a compact but me, the Governor, and so they have not talked to me about that.”
The Poarch Creeks have offered Class II gaming, meaning bingo, since 1988. They operate two hotels and casinos, one on its reservation in and one in Wetumpka, plus a casino in Montgomery. The tribe also owns the Mobile greyhound racetrack.
McGhee noted, “We are concerned with the state taking an approach that they just want to blanketly legalize gaming in the state of Alabama without sitting down and talking to the tribe to say, ‘How can you help us?’ when we have been there for so many years. It was not good legislation. You look at it, and our concern was you have four tracks, so there’s no requirement within the legislation of what those tracks do. There’s no hotels; there’s no retail, none of that. Just we’ll legalize gaming at the four tracks.”
Marsh’s bill also calls for establishing a state lottery. McGhee said, “The tribe has always gone on record saying we’re fine with the lottery. That’s what we don’t understand. The lottery, supposedly, by this study brings in $330 million,” he said, citing an impact study conducted by Auburn University Montgomery. “Legalizing gaming to four tracks only brings in 70. Why are you doing this?”
