By Johnny Kampis
Alabama lawmakers again failed to pass gaming legislation in 2024, but poker players wouldn’t have benefited anyway as this year’s effort prohibited all table games.
The gaming legislation, House Bills 151 and 152, easily passed the Alabama House by votes of 72 to 29 and 70 to 29, respectively. But the bills never came to a vote in the Alabama Senate before the Legislature adjourned for the 2024 session at the end of April.
The legislation would have allowed Alabama residents to vote on a constitutional amendment to create a state lottery, electronic games of chance such as slots, traditional raffles and paper bingo. Table games and any games involving cards and dice would have been prohibited. Instead, the bills would have allowed electronic games at racetracks in Greene, Jefferson, Macon and Mobile counties, and bingo halls in Greene, Houston and Lowndes counties.
Lottery revenues would have gone to a state education fund, while revenue from other forms of gambling would have been placed in the state general fund.
Alabamians would have been able to participate in national pooled lotteries such as Powerball and Mega Millions.
“From the very beginning, we had three key goals with the House’s comprehensive legislation,” House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter said in April. “Those included eliminating illegal gaming operations in the state of Alabama, developing a framework for the taxation and regulation of facilities that obtain licenses through an open-bid process and establishing a lottery that benefits education and education only. If one thing has been made clear throughout this process, it’s that the people of Alabama want and deserve an opportunity to vote on this issue.”
The bills only reached a vote after months of negotiations between lawmakers in the House and Senate. But, still, some legislators were unhappy with the compromise. Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Baldwin County, who sponsored the bill initially in the Senate, said he would not have voted for them after they passed the House.
An initial bill that passed the House in February was much more comprehensive, allowing full-scale casinos across more locations, including Birmingham and Mobile, with seven licenses available across the state. The Poarch Band of Creek Indians would have been allowed to operate a casino in northeast Alabama under that original legislation, which would have also allowed sports betting and pari-mutuel gambling on horse and dog racing.
Casinos would have required either approval by local voters or a resolution passed by a city council or county commission before opening.
The effort in 2024 marked the second consecutive year that lawmakers took a significant look at gaming legislation in Alabama, giving proponents optimism that the issue will come up again in 2025. Alabama voters have not been given the chance to vote on any statewide gaming referendums since a lottery vote failed in 1999.
