On August 18, in a special legislative session called by Alabama Governor Robert Bentley to consider a statewide lottery, state senators stopped debate on lottery bill, sponsored by state Senator Jim McClendon, which also would have allowed electronic gambling machines at racetracks. The motion to end debate came as it appeared the measure would not receive the 21 votes necessary to pass the Senate.
Because the Alabama constitution bans most games of chance, at least three-fifths of the legislators would have to approve any gambling legislation and a majority of voters would have to approve changing the state constitution to allow a lottery or gambling.
Prior to the vote on his bill, McClendon said, “My constituents asked me for the right to vote. I would hope my fellow senators would honor that the people want to vote on this,” McClendon said. “A vote for the bill is not a vote for a lottery. This is a vote for the people, to give them the right.”
The following day, senators approved a lottery only bill backed by Bentley, which also faced long odds.
“We’ve been through the first version that there wasn’t an appetite for. This one is a clean slate,” said Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, but if you’ve got a handful of folks that are hell-bent on killing it, that’s problematic.”
State Senator Rodger Smitherman predicted the second bill also would be defeated. “This is not going to pass out of here. We’re just going through a shell game,” Smitherman said.
Earlier Bentley had said a lottery is the “only option that we have left. We tried everything else. The legislature realizes we are not going to pass any more taxes, but they also realize we have a real problem in the general fund, especially dealing with Medicaid.” The lottery bill would authorize a lottery and raise $225 million in revenue for the state’s general fund, Bentley said.
The Senate approved the bill by a 21-12 margin, the minimum of positive votes possible. The bill will now go to the House of Representatives before it goes to Bentley’s desk. A lottery referendum would be held for the first time since 1999 when state voters turned down a lottery.
Republican state Senator Bill Holtzclaw, who opposed McClendon’s bill, said it would have allowed casino-like venues in Alabama. He called the legislation an “absolute train wreck,” adding, “The headlines should not read that the Senate killed the lottery. The headlines should read that the Senate killed a bad lottery bill,” Holtzclaw said.
Republican state Senator Dick Brewbaker added, “You’ve got divisions between people who will only vote for a clean lottery, and people who will only vote for a lottery plus everything else under the sun. And there’s nine of us that think the state should not sponsor vice at all.”
Democratic state Senator Bobby Singleton, a supporter of McClendon’s bill, said it was the best chance to fund the state’s Medicaid program. “We have children in this state that are sick, families that are suffering. You want to legislate morality here and tell grown folk what they can do with their money,” he said. Many Democrats also were motivated to support a lottery bill to help dog tracks where electronic bingo casinos were shut down by the state. “The VLT machines from what we’ve seen from other states have a 40 percent higher revenue return than just a regular lottery,” Singleton said.
Previously, Attorney General Luther Strange, who has shut down several electronic bingo establishments, said his legal team had reviewed McClendon’s and Bentley’s bills, and cautioned that allowing the electronic lottery terminals “will lead to casino gambling and protracted litigation” over gambling. McClendon said that was “one lawyer’s opinion.”
Alabama is one of six states, including Mississippi, Utah, Alaska, Hawaii and Nevada, that does not have a state lottery. In 1999, voters rejected then-Governor Don Siegelman’s proposed lottery, which was strongly opposed by church groups and out-of-state gambling interests.
Senators also are considering a proposed constitutional amendment, sponsored by state Senator Greg Albritton that would require the governor to negotiate a gaming compact with the Poarch Creek Indians, who operate electronic bingo casinos in Atmore, Montgomery and Wetumpka. The proposal would allow the tribe to operate Class III gambling, with the state receiving a share of revenue.
Poarch Creek Vice Chairman Robert McGhee said the tribe supports Albritton’s bill. “There is still some time to seize the day. We believe the Senator’s bill gives Alabama an opportunity to be financially secure today, tomorrow and for the foreseeable future,” he said.
