The debate to legalize gaming in Alabama won’t go away until lawmakers pass a bill, the governor signs it, and voters across the state approve of a final structure to the legal economy for new state ventures, such as a lottery, online sports betting, casino gaming, and beyond.

But the state’s top lawmakers say that 2026 is unlikely to be the breakthrough year – even with the prospect of a special session being called to deal on the issue directly. 

At Yellowhammer News’ annual Legislative Preview event Tuesday evening, Alabama Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger and Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter offered their most direct assessment so far this session, which is the final year of the current quadrennium, marking the end of the Ivey administration and the current cohort of state lawmakers.   

Gudger (R-Cullman) said he does not believe the votes are there today to move a gaming package.

“In the Senate – and I’ll speak for our colleagues up there right now – I’m not sure the votes are there. And I’m not bringing something that’s going to suck all the oxygen out of the room unless we know we have the votes.

So we’re going back and forth. We’ve had some people step up and say, ‘Hey, we’re thinking about bringing this legislation this year.’ And I said, ‘Well, let’s talk about that.’ We’ve been on conference calls, talking about it.

They said, ‘Well, we want to keep the bill just like it is.’ I said, ‘First of all, you’ve been here long enough to realize you’re not able to keep any bill exactly where you want it. That’s just not how this works.’ And number two: if it changes, are you a yes vote or a no vote? Because you’re telling me you’re a yes vote — but if it changes, what’s going to happen?

And they said, ‘Well, we don’t want it to change, so we’re probably a no vote.’ I said, ‘Well, that means we don’t have enough votes to bring it forward, so please don’t do that if that’s the case.’

So as of right now, I don’t see that happening as we move forward.

Obviously, a special session isn’t up to us. That’s called by the Governor. If she does that, we’ll do our job and come back.

But, we’ll have our hands full trying to see if we can rally those votes if that’s what this caucus wants.

Again, it comes back to where this caucus is in the Alabama State Senate and what they want. But as of right now, I’m not sure we have the votes to do anything.”

After spending much of the 2024 session in a high-stakes tug-of-war over a major gaming proposal that, at different stages, included a state lottery, sports betting, and casino-style gaming – which ultimately stalled upstairs in the Senate – Speaker Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) said Tuesday, “the appetite’s not there right now.”

RELATED: Alabama Senate Pro Tem closes door on legal gaming push in 2025

As he affirmed in 2024, and as is custom for the Legislature in quadrenniums past, after he and colleagues were ready to go all in on the issue in 2024, Ledbetter says the House prefers the Senate to send over a workable product first. 

“I think the appetite’s not there right now. From the House standpoint, we’d like to see something come from the Senate,” Ledbetter said. 

But the thing that amazes me is when I hear people say, ‘We don’t want gambling in Alabama.’ Think about that: there’s more gambling in Alabama right now than there ever has been. Until we do something to clean this up, it’s going to continue to grow and continue to expand.

And yeah, it’s a problem. I’m probably the last one to be talking about gaming because I don’t do it, I don’t like it, I don’t enjoy being around it. But we’ve got a problem.

And this doesn’t have anything to do with whether we ‘have gambling’ or we ‘don’t.’ We’ve got the Poarch Creek Indians – three of the largest facilities in the Southeast – in our state, and we don’t get a dime. We don’t get anything off of it.

There are illegal operations in every county in this state – every one of them. If you want to buy a lottery ticket in a state where it’s illegal, all you’ve got to do is go two blocks right over here to the shop and go get a lottery ticket. Think about that. Guess what? You don’t win nothing.

So it’s going on all across the state. I think there comes a point where we’ve got to buckle down and try to fix the problem. I don’t know that we’re there right now.”

In a separate question, when asked what the most significant lift of the next quadrennium might be, Gudger affirmed what Speaker Ledbetter said about the negative consequences of illegal gambling growing more and more.

“Obviously, you have different issues that come up, and part of that’s going to be gaming. And where are the new votes coming in the Legislature, right? It comes up every year,” Gudger said.

“I’m at a point where I agree with the Speaker: there’s illegal gaming going on. One way or the other, we need to get rid of it. And the issues we’re having to face by not having it — I think it’s starting to get greater, if it’s not already, than us just going ahead and facing it.

“So, as we see where the votes are with the new members coming into the Legislature — do we have enough votes to pass that? That’s going to be one big one coming up as we move forward.”

Tuesday was the seventh day of the 2026 legislative session.