Alabama gambling enforcement will require stronger legal tools and additional investigators if the state expects the Attorney General’s office to police illegal operations statewide, Republican candidate Katherine Robertson told “Capitol Journal” recently.
Robertson, who has served as Chief Counsel to Attorney General Steve Marshall for the past decade, appeared on the show to discuss her candidacy and priorities for the office. She is one of three Republican candidates in the race, alongside Pamela Casey and Jay Mitchell.
Robertson said the Attorney General’s office has historically stepped into gambling enforcement only when local law enforcement failed to act, a pattern stretching back years before Marshall took office.
“I do think people associate the Attorney General with that fight, but really that only came about because local law enforcement wasn’t handling business,” Robertson said. “It’s not specifically the Attorney General’s role. The Attorney General, just historically, has had to step in when local folks would not.”
She described a cycle where the AG’s office conducts enforcement operations in communities across the state, only to see illegal gambling operations return once investigators leave.
“When we leave a town, if the local law enforcement isn’t going to continue to have it shut down, they’re going to pop back up,” Robertson said.
Marshall’s office has led some of the largest gambling enforcement operations in state history during his tenure. In April 2023, his office obtained temporary restraining orders against 14 illegal gambling facilities in Jefferson County involving more than 2,400 slot machines.
In November 2023, agents seized more than 600 illegal slot machines at White Hall Entertainment in Lowndes County. And in August 2024, the office shut down five facilities in Selma and executed six search warrants in cooperation with the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office.
In doing so, Marshall has pursued what Robertson called a creative legal strategy, using public nuisance laws and civil penalties to work around the fact that illegal gambling currently carries only a misdemeanor criminal penalty.
She said those efforts have produced mixed results.
“Some of that was some success, some of it without,” Robertson said. “But I really think at the heart of it is not the will of the Attorney General, but the resources.”
Robertson said the office is significantly understaffed for the scope of enforcement the public expects.
“We are very under-resourced when it comes to agents and investigators, and you’re going to have to have more of them if that’s what the state is expecting of us,” she said. “And obviously it’d be great if we had a felony provision as well.”
The enforcement challenge has also expanded beyond the physical casino-style operations that defined earlier crackdowns.
Robertson said online gambling presents a growing problem and confirmed the AG’s office has recently sent cease-and-desist letters to multiple companies operating in the state.
“Online gambling is not legal in Alabama either,” Robertson said. “It’s a constant battle. And when you think about all the things that the AG’s office is called upon to do, sometimes it feels like a losing fight.”
She added that if Alabama intends to keep gambling illegal, lawmakers need to give the office adequate tools.
“If we are going to continue to have gambling be illegal in Alabama, which is perfectly great with me, we do need to have the tools to address it, if that’s what people want us to do,” Robertson said.
Sawyer Knowles is a capitol reporter for Yellowhammer News. You may contact him at [email protected].
