Last year, the Alabama Senate passed a comprehensive gaming bill, but it died in the House. Looking ahead to the 2023 legislative session, Poarch Band of Creek Indians officials said they’re hopeful lawmakers will pass the bill, which would authorize a voter referendum to allow sports betting, casino gambling and a lottery.
Appearing on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal,” PCI Tribal Council Member Arthur Mothershed and Tribal Vice Chairman Robbie McGhee said the tribe still was lobbying for the comprehensive bill.
Mothershed said, “At least our intent would be to push for a comprehensive gaming bill. The governor, herself, did a study in 2020 and it just shows a comprehensive gaming bill would bring, according to whose estimates you look at, somewhere between $500 million and $700 million a year in the state’s coffers. And that’s notwithstanding the state’s initial license fees that would be out there. We think it is in the state’s best interest to take advantage of the money that are on the table.”
Mothershed noted, “There is gaming going on in the state. We’re just doing it. There are other facilities doing it. The state should capitalize on it instead of ignoring it and pushing it down the road.” The tribe owns the Wind Creek Atmore, Wind Creek Montgomery and Wind Creek Wetumpka casinos in Alabama, as well as other gaming, resort and entertainment enterprises beyond their reservation.
Earlier this year, Governor Kay Ivey stated her biggest regret of the last legislative session was that lawmakers failed to pass a gambling bill giving voters the choice on the ballot.
According to political Analyst Steve Flowers, the bill didn’t pass “because it was an election year. The first year of the 4-year term is when things like this are addressed, so that’s what makes it more likely this will be the year.”
