Alabama lawmakers advance compromise of legal gambling proposal – 'We've never gotten to this point'

On Tuesday, a conference committee of the Alabama House and Senate reached an agreement on the distinct versions of the legal gambling framework passed by their chambers earlier in the legislative session. All six members of the committee voted in favor of a compromise of the constitutional amendment legislation (HB151) and the enabling legislation (HB152) that sets forth the regulatory and taxation framework for a legal gaming system in the state.

State Rep. Chris Blackshear, who authored the two-bill proposal in the Alabama House, explained the points of compromise achieved by the committee.

“First off, HB151 repeals all local bingo CAs, effective September 30, 2026, and gives the new Gambling Commission authority over them until that repeal date. HB151 also prohibits future local gambling amendments. It prohibits all forms of gaming with the exception of the following: A state education lottery, electronic games of chance — which means no tables, cards, dice or dealers — traditional raffles, and traditional paper bingo,” State Rep. Blackshear (R-Phenix City) said.

“HB151 also does not — and let me be clear — does not authorize sports betting. It is out, that was one of the biggest things, sports betting is removed.”

According to the conference report, HB151 authorizes an Alabama Education Lottery in paper form only, authorizes electronic games of chance at seven locations contained in the Senate-passed version of the bill, and requires the Governor to enter into negotiations for a compact with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians.

The seven locations include racetracks at Greene, Jefferson, Macon, and Mobile as well as bingo hall locations in Greene County, Houston County, and Lowndes County. These operations would be taxed at a range from 20% to 28%.

As for the enabling legislation, the Senate-passed version of the Alabama Gambling Commission structure was adopted, as well as all language regarding its enforcement division, and the Senate-passed language setting forth criminal law enhancements for violations.

The Alabama Lottery Corporation was adopted from the House-passed version.

“All lottery proceeds will be spent for educational purposes through an annual supplemental appropriation. We brought back in the language from the House that had the last dollar scholarships for two-year community college and also technical colleges,” State Rep. Blackshear said.

“The research dollars for higher ed is in. Also, we added in, this time around, the opportunity for scholarships for four-year private and public universities within state — and also in that language is bonuses for retired teachers.”

In addition to the lottery, a license structure was authorized for the seven electronic gambling locations.

“All gambling proceeds from the other side, which will be the gaming entities would like to call them Electronic Gaming facilities, all those proceeds would go to an annual supplemental appropriation that will be run through the general fund in both bodies. We pulled back in the language from the House version of how that money could potentially be appropriated,” Blackshear said.

Requirements for these facilities were stipulated in the enabling legislation, allowing for a 10-year license ranging from $15-30 million, which must be paid 25% up front and half over the next nine years. These facilities would be taxed at a rate of 24% for first 5 years.

The committee also adopted the Senate-passed version of language prohibiting political contributions from gambling interests.

State Sen. Greg Albritton, who has run point in the higher chamber on legal gambling efforts in recent years, expressed a reticent optimism for the developments made by the conference committee, as marked by unanimous support for a compromise.

“I want to thank House members for taking this on and moving forward with where we are. The Legislature of Alabama has been struggling with this for a long, long time. And we’ve never gotten to this point,” Albritton (R-Atmore) said. “How much further we get, we don’t know. But we’ll never know unless we try to move forward on this.”

“I know that there’s still a lot of controversies. We have been successful at one thing is, it has to make everybody mad,” he said. “But we’re making progress.”

August 20, 2024 is the conference committee agreed-upon date for a statewide vote on legal gaming as set forth in the constitutional amendment legislation (HB151) #alpolitics

— Grayson Everett (@Grayson270) April 30, 2024

It was also announced that as part of the committee’s compromise, the election date for a statewide vote on the constitutional amendment change would be held on August 20, 2024. This date differs from both the November general election date approved initially by the House and the September date approved by the Senate.

A full vote from both the House and Senate chambers could come as early as later today. On Tuesday evening, the House will take up a second calendar dealing with sunset legislation and the Senate will gavel into an agenda with bills expected to be deliberated.

HB151, the proposed constitutional amendment, must be agreed upon by a three-fifths majority of both the House and Senate in order to place the question of legal gambling to the voters of Alabama for the first time since 1999.

Grayson Everett is the state and political editor for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @Grayson270