A new plan to let Alabama voters decide whether to approve a lottery, casinos, and legal sports betting was up for discussion for the first time Tuesday afternoon in the Legislature and drew a crowd that packed the largest committee room in the State House.
The House Economic Development and Tourism Committee held a one-hour public hearing on the two-bill package introduced by Republican lawmakers who spent more than a year preparing the legislation.
About 20 people spoke, including some who supported the legislation, some opposed, and some there to advocate for specific uses of the state revenue that would result if the legislation is approved.
Rep. Andy Whitt, R-Madison, chairman of the committee and one of the sponsors of the legislation, said the committee would vote on the bills Wednesday. Committee approval would put the legislation in position for a vote on the House floor as early as Thursday.
It would take 63 votes, three-fifths of the House, to approve the proposed constitutional amendment and send it to the Senate. No lottery bill has cleared the Legislature and reached the voters since 1999.
State Treasurer Young Boozer spoke in favor of the legislation. Boozer served on a gambling policy study group appointed by Gov. Kay Ivey that issued a report in December 2020. Boozer said the legislation appeared to be based on that report.
“My summary of the study of this bill is, gaming will work in Alabama, and it will be worth it,” Boozer said.
The fiscal note for the bill prepared by the Legislative Services Agency estimated the state would receive net revenues of $935 million to $1.2 billion from the lottery, casinos, and sports betting.
Boozer said it would take a couple of years to reach those numbers.
“Alabama is late to the game,” Boozer said. “Lotteries are offered by 45 states. Casinos with Class III gaming (slots and table games) are operating in 44 states. And sports betting is legal now in 38 states.”
Ivey has also expressed her support for the legislation.
Other speakers said the legislation could fund important programs in Alabama, like mental health care, veterans services, scholarships to community colleges and technical colleges, and support for a trust fund for retired education employees.
But opponents of the legislation said gambling revenues were a poor way to fund those services, partly because of the problems caused by gambling addictions. Two men told the committee about how their addictions and the disruptions in caused in their lives.
“We can all agree that we’re in a mental health crisis in the state of Alabama,” said Stephanie Smith, president and CEO of the Alabama Policy Institute. “Let’s not add to it with something that in every state where it has been studied has actually increased the mental problems in the state.”
Vestavia Hills City Council member Kimberly Cooke, noting that one of the casinos would be in Birmingham, said it would hurt her city.
“Gambling, drugs and prostitution thrive in casinos,” Cooke said. “As addictive as cocaine, gambling drives people to anxiety, depression, and suicide.”
Cooke said the ability to bet on sporting events on cellphones would pose a new risk for young people.
“Sports betting apps advertise for kids and quite literally steal their lunch money,” Cooke said. “This is an epidemic in our country.”
Cooke urged the committee to reject the legislation.
“Parents in Vestavia are having a hard enough time raising their children. Please, don’t make it harder,” she said.
Christian Genetsky, president of the online gambling company FanDuel, spoke in favor of the legislation and said FanDuel is diligent about blocking underage players. Genetsky, a Birmingham native, said his company has about 12 million users in the states that have legalized sports betting. He said there is strong demand in Alabama.
“Last year there were two million attempts to place a legal bet here in Alabama, and every single one of those was blocked,” Genetsky said, “And when those users were blocked from betting the legal market, they drove to Tennessee, Mississippi, or Florida, where sports betting is legal, or they simply switched to one of the illegal, offshore sites that’s already available.
“What’s different about legal operators like FanDuel and illegal offshore sites? Most critically, we are committed to ensuring the integrity of sports, that all of our customers play responsibly, and that no one underage can access our platform.”
The bill would create the Alabama Gaming Commission, which would oversee a new state agency that would include a law enforcement division. The commission could license up to seven casinos that could offer the full range of Las Vegas-style games, such as slot machines, blackjack, craps and roulette.
Six of the casinos would be designated for Birmingham, Mobile County, Macon County, Greene County, Lowndes County, and Houston County. The legislation says there would be an open bid process for those licenses, with a minimum license fee of $5 million and minimum investment of $35 million.
The seventh casino would be contingent on the governor negotiating a compact with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. A compact would allow the Poarch Creeks to have a casino in northeast Alabama in addition to those now operating on tribal lands in Atmore, Wetumpka, and Montgomery.
Robert McGhee, vice chair of the Poarch Band, signed up to speak as an opponent of the legislation. McGhee said people should be able to vote on gambling in Alabama and said the tribe is interested in negotiating a compact.
But McGhee said the tribe had concerns about how the legislation was written. One concern, McGhee said, was that it says the governor “may” enter a compact with the tribe, leaving that uncertain, and did not provide any timeframe for that to happen.
McGhee said he was also concerned about limiting the tribe’s options for a new casino location to northeast Alabama.
Read more: What’s in new lottery, casinos bill in Alabama Legislature?
