ALABAMA (WHNT) — If you are betting on Alabama getting a state lottery this year, the odds are not looking good.
As of now, this year’s gambling package will not even be brought to the Senate floor for a vote.
Alabama is one of only five states left in the country without a lottery. This year’s bill would have created one and legalized other forms of popular gambling, like sports betting and casino games. However, Alabama lawmakers are not closer to making that a reality.
“We are suffering from gambling fatigue,” Atmore-area Sen. Greg Albritton said. “Everyone is just tired of it.”
Albritton has worked on gambling legislation for several years. He said the legislature is missing out on an important opportunity to regulate it.
“The State of Alabama, I think, has a moral obligation to control this industry,” Albritton said.
Currently, several Alabama counties have legalized certain types of gambling that allow for dog racing and bingo halls. Albritton said he is concerned about the growth of these locally-regulated practices and other types of gambling are already happening in the state.
“Everybody that has access to a phone or a raffle ticket, they can do that right now,” Albritton said. “It’s available without constraint. That’s a part of the problem.”
The state is also missing out on significant potential revenue.
In 2020, Gov. Kay Ivey put together a group to study gambling. The group found that the state had the potential to make between $510 and $710 million in revenue on gambling operations that would include a lottery, sports betting and casino gaming.
Albritton said, with two more votes, the Senate probably could have passed the gambling package this year.
“The problem is that we’ve got so many hands in this pie,” Albritton said. “We’ve got so much confusion in on it. And so many people that don’t want it to be controlled.”
Others, he said, find the subject taboo.
The last time Alabama had a lottery on the ballot was 1999, and it did not pass then. In 2020, the governor’s study group found that 7% of Alabamians supported implementing a state lottery, but it appears this year’s gambling legislation will not make it far enough for voters to be given the choice.
Albritton told News 19 he does not plan to introduce gambling legislation during next year’s session.
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