Alabama gambling bills assigned to House committees

The last possible day for Alabama's legislative session is May 17, which means that House lawmakers have less than a month left to approve a gambling proposal.

2021-04-23

United States

Reading time 1:31 min

The constitutional amendment and SB310 to set up the Alabama Gaming Commission will be discussed in the House Economic Development and Tourism Committee. SB309, which sets up the lottery and scholarships, will be in the Ways and Means Education Committee and SB311 in the House State Government Committee.

Last week the Alabama senate passed a proposal to a lottery and regulate nine casinos. The mentioned gambling package is now to be taken up by the Alabama House lawmakers, reports the WSFA 12 News.

Time is running out for the state lawmakers, who are faced with the tremendous task of getting a gambling bill through the state Legislature.

Rep. Chris Blackshear, R-Phenix, who is carrying the bill in the House, said: “This is so big and so comprehensive. We need to get it right. I’m a firm believer in allowing the citizens to vote and we don’t get a lot of chances".

The last possible day for the session is May 17, which means that house lawmakers have less than a month left in the legislative session to approve a gambling proposal.

However, Blackshear is facing a time crunch to convince House lawmakers to support the package of bills, which is expected to be an uphill battle due to the fact that there are some lawmakers that don’t want gambling at all, there are also some that only want a lottery, while others say it’s time to address casinos as well.

Some Lowndes County leaders spoke out against the proposal because it does not allow Lowndes County to operate a casino.

Rep. Kelvin Lawrence of D-Hayneville said: “How can we forcibly close the doors of a business in an impoverished county like Lowndes?”.

Blackshear said the four-bill package has been assigned to different committees. He also said that the the constitutional amendment and SB310 to set up the Alabama Gaming Commission will be in the House Economic Development and Tourism Committee. SB309, which sets up the lottery and scholarships, will be in the Ways and Means Education Committee and SB311 will be in the House State Government Committee.

There is no date set yet on when the gambling proposal would be in committee, nevertheless Blackshear said the earliest time is next week. If the House approves this constitutional amendment allowing gambling, alabamians would then have a chance to vote on it.