Alabama Legislature seems unlikely to approve lottery

Apr 23, 2016, 8:16 am (12 comments)

Alabama

Like buying a Powerball ticket, establishing an Alabama lottery seems more likely to end in grief than gain.

Efforts to create a statewide lottery appear to be dead in the current session, despite a Senate committee's approval Thursday of an amendment that would put the question before voters. Procedural rules in the Legislature's final days are likely to make its passage much more difficult, and House version of the bill appears stalled.

But the Senate's sponsor and other legislators say the proposal will return in the future as lawmakers grapple with ongoing revenue shortfalls in the General Fund budget.

"It's not a new thing for me to come back next year if we're not successful," said Sen. Jim McClendon, R-Springville, the bill's sponsor, who fought for a state texting-while-driving ban for six years.

Despite its emergence from the Senate Tourism and Marketing committee, McClendon's proposal was not given a second reading on Thursday. That means it can't come to the floor until Wednesday at the earliest, by which time a procedural rule requiring the unanimous consent of the Senate to send bills to the lower chamber of the Legislature will have taken effect.

"I would say that bill is going to have a tough time getting to the House," Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, a sponsor of gambling legislation in the past, said Thursday.

The state's constitution bans lotteries, and Alabama is among a handful of states without one. Former Gov. Don Siegelman attempted to establish a state lottery to fund educational programs, but voters rejected it in a referendum in October 1999. Attempts to establish lotteries since then have failed.

McClendon's bill, like a version sponsored by Rep. Alan Harper, R-Northport, would allow voters to decide to establish a state lottery. Unlike earlier efforts at creating a lottery, the bills did not create methods for the distribution of proceeds or governance, leaving those questions to the Legislature. That proved a problem: even legislators sympathetic to a lottery hesitated to endorse a bill without distribution mechanisms.

McClendon said he was working on language to address distribution and governance of the lottery, and that it could be ready should Gov. Robert Bentley decide to call a special session to address Medicaid, which faces a shortfall.

The sponsor said money raised by the lottery could go to the General Fund, though those funds wouldn't be available immediately. It would take at least a year to establish a lottery after voter approval, if that comes.

"If a special session is called, if the governor decides to do that, the lottery bill will be ready," he said. "And it will be ready with some of these changes."

The big question is whether the Legislature will be ready. Harper's bill won approval from a House committee in February, but has stalled in the House amid general anti-gambling feeling. Bills to boost the legal status of the VictoryLand and Greenetrack casinos failed to emerge from the Senate in recent weeks.

Casino gaming will also be divisive. McClendon said he would kill the bill if he thought it could open the door to that in the state.

"That is not going to happen," he said. "I've gone through a great deal of effort to make sure we do not open any new doors out there."

House Democrats, who have long advocated a lottery for education, have said they won't back a lottery proposal that leaves out casino gambling.

"Instead of raising taxes, we're for voluntary taxes, and the only way to do that is open (gambling) up across the board," House Minority Leader Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, said Friday.

Senate Minority Leader Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery, was more cautious.

"We don't care who has it to make it palatable for everyone in the state and stop losing all types of revenue," he said. "It's an idea, our idea. Now the Republicans have taken up the mantle. We applaud that effort."

Lotteries post flat revenue growth, and experts have warned they may not provide a long-term fix for the General Fund problems. But with those problems coming back almost every year, Marsh said discussions on a lottery "are never over."

"These discussions... on Medicaid, these discussions on prisons, discussions on funding education — it all comes back at some point in time to 'Where's the money coming from?'" Marsh said. "A lottery is one of those sources of potential revenue."

Montgomery Advertiser

Comments

LOTTOKING2016

No lotto in UNITED NATIVE AMERICA

music*'s avatarmusic*

90% of Alabama's population will be missed when another record-breaking jackpot is created.  Go MM & PB!!US Flag

Groppo's avatarGroppo

I think Alabamy should have a lotto, like everyone else.

Now, I myself don't have much to do day in and day out.

But the lotto, now, every day of the week, is a good diversion.

 

Let's see, there's the:

Monday and Thursday cash for life game.

Tues and Friday Mega

wed and saturday powerball

Because of the lotto activity on those days, I gave up all other kinds of gambling.

Bleudog101

Quote: Originally posted by Groppo on Apr 24, 2016

I think Alabamy should have a lotto, like everyone else.

Now, I myself don't have much to do day in and day out.

But the lotto, now, every day of the week, is a good diversion.

 

Let's see, there's the:

Monday and Thursday cash for life game.

Tues and Friday Mega

wed and saturday powerball

Because of the lotto activity on those days, I gave up all other kinds of gambling.

LOL! 

 

IF Alabama (and I emphasized if) ever got a lottery, no doubt they'd have scratchers, pick 3 & 4.

 

Now if Mississippi ever got a lottery (insert laugh), Alabamanians would be surrounded by lottery states.  Lo and behold some current Bible belt states already have lotteries and lightning bolts haven't come out of the sky yet.

gatorsrok

As a resident of Florida, I hope Alabama does not create its own lottery.  We enjoy their residents buying our lotto tickets and funding Florida's education system.

sully16's avatarsully16

Quote: Originally posted by gatorsrok on Apr 25, 2016

As a resident of Florida, I hope Alabama does not create its own lottery.  We enjoy their residents buying our lotto tickets and funding Florida's education system.

Looking on the bright side.

Bleudog101

Bet, pardon the pun, that border towns with Alabama make a killing off of AL residents.

Just like Horseshoe Southern Indiana has many more KY cars than IN.  Deaf ears here too, horsing industry wants racinos--even Churchill Downs.  The casino is only 11 miles from downtown Louisville (38 for me).

cbr$'s avatarcbr$
Well again a waste of ink & paper. ALA. Legislature don't want any gambling here. We
won't hear about this again until the next election if at all. Forget Tourism in ALA. 
Leave before dark. The ALA. Legislature had more then enough time to complete this
bill. Months later it still in draft stage.
Nikkicute's avatarNikkicute

Quote: Originally posted by music* on Apr 23, 2016

90% of Alabama's population will be missed when another record-breaking jackpot is created.  Go MM & PB!!US Flag

That's exactly what I was thinking! That Powerball jackpot is getting bigger, I hope it goes to half a billion again and seeing them cross the state line will make them change their minds.

myturn's avatarmyturn

Alabamians can play a state lottery, just not an Alabama state lottery. The Massachusetts lottery has a subscription service, which is available across the United States, by phone. You don't have to reside in Massachusetts to participate.

PrisonerSix

Quote: Originally posted by gatorsrok on Apr 25, 2016

As a resident of Florida, I hope Alabama does not create its own lottery.  We enjoy their residents buying our lotto tickets and funding Florida's education system.

I feel the same way about Mississippi because I live in Louisiana.

I'm sure many Alabama residents also go to Georgia and Tennessee, and maybe some even come to Louisiana, who knows?

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

Well that suxs  at least give the people Powerblla/Mega. Hopefully with the Powerball jackpot rising this may change their minds.

End of comments
Subscribe to this news story