The legal gaming push driven by the Alabama House in 2024 died with a whimper at the end of session, several weeks after failing by one vote in the Alabama Senate.
That same push was a non-starter in the Alabama Senate in 2025 when Pro Tem Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman) effectively ended discussion on legislation reportedly filed by State Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Atmore) earlier that day.
When asked if he made that call because of the limited number of days in session proportionate to the mountain of legislative lifts remaining, Gudger told APTV’s “Capitol Journal” that was exactly the case.
“But I do believe it was the right decision,” Gudger said.
“I think it came in too late with too few votes, and by doing that, that legislation that I finally got to see after people were talking about it for the while, it came up, and we did a vote count in our caucus and on the floor, and it’s just one of those where it didn’t make sense for us to push as hard as it needed to be pushed to pass.”
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Looking ahead to 2026, Gudger said he believes that should continue to be the case — especially in an election year.
When lawmakers return to Montgomery for their next regular session, it will mark the final year of the current quadrennium, and a dead heat of the 2026 primary election season.
“To answer that question, I do not want it to come up. Personally, I think that there are going to be some people that want it to come up. But I think during election — it’s already chaos. If you bring in gambling to that, it is mass chaos times four, with a tornado coming through and at a circus with three rings going on with different people,” Gudger said.
“So I think that the best thing for my colleagues in the Alabama State Senate is to go ahead and hear me say, I do not want to bring up gambling next year. And if we do that, it will take all the oxygen out of the room. So let’s focus on what we need to focus on — the bills that we need to get at hand, get through the campaign season, and then the first year of the next quad. I’m pretty sure it’s coming back, and coming back hard, but I will be monitoring that. But right now, my focus is on my colleagues, which is where it should be.”
Gudger sidelined the issue in 2025, warning that it would derail the legislature’s opportunity to accomplish its top policy priorities, which still fell short of some lawmakers’ expectations.
“Well, and you kind of shut it down this session because… that you didn’t want it to eat up all the oxygen in the room, because there was so much else to do, so many other issues. And I guess that’s part of your role, is to say, ‘Okay, you’ve got to prioritize. You only got a limited number of days.’”
“And my personal opinion is that if it’s not ready to go, and you’ve got your 21 votes for a constitutional amendment vote on the Senate floor, then it doesn’t need to be introduced. And so the key for me was we need to make a decision one way or the other. And I’ve been here for seven years now, and every year it has creeped up on us and creeped up on us to the point by the end of session, everybody — that’s what they’re talking about. I did not want that to happen my first session. I wanted us to have good, clean votes, where our head work was very clear and not clouded by these type of issues. And so I wanted to make sure everyone in my Senate knew we’re done with this for the year. There’s not enough votes. Let’s go forward on things that really matter, like helping our pharmacies, doing a tax package to get money back into the pockets for the hard-working people of Alabama, the health care thing from ALFA.”
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“All of that are things that we needed to focus on, and legislation we needed to focus on that affect Alabamians, instead of worrying about, are we going to have enough votes for this? And we didn’t. So the key is, let’s make a decision and move forward.”
Grayson Everett is the editor in chief of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270.
