State Sen. Del Marsh’s (R-Anniston) comprehensive gaming proposal will reportedly get a second look next week when lawmakers return from their spring break recess. Marsh’s effort tried earlier in the session came up two votes short of the three-fifths required for a constitutional amendment.
While most of the action of gaming has been in the legislature’s upper chamber, the House of Representatives has yet to consider any gaming legislation this session. However, Marsh’s effort seems to have some support in the House.
State Rep. Chris Blackshear (R-Phenix City) told Mobile radio’s FM Talk 106.5 on Friday that he sees the comprehensive approach superior to a piecemeal approach to gaming, which would have the separate components — lottery, sports betting and casino gaming — be considered separately.
“Well, first off, I’ll preface that by saying my grandfather, who passed away 20 years ago, was a Baptist minister for 40 years,” he said. “So, a Baptist minister for 40 years in the state of Alabama, what I’m about to say would probably, if he were sitting here, would take me out back and try to choke me out. But I think as comprehensive, Jeff, as we can be, the better off we’re going to be because I think there’s a couple of things — you know you have to play the fact-of-fiction card with this. Everyone hears, you know, the Poarch Creek have a monopoly. No, they don’t have a monopoly. Currently, they’re protected on the federal land, but they do have the only casinos because of our state constitution. Well, I think if you make it comprehensive, you have an opportunity to pull them in with a compact, then you start pulling some money in from them.”
“I’m prefacing this off of Senator Marsh’s bill that he has laid out because that’s really the only one that we’ve seen,” Blackshear continued. “As I walk through this, that’s kind of what I’m using as a blueprint here. The way his legislation was is you’d be pulling money from the Poarch Creeks that the state’s never gotten before. It would also enable the other dog tracks that have really been through a battle for multiple reasons over the last 20-25 years to operate if they choose to pay a license and have an ownership at one of these Class 3 gaming locations. If you cover that, that pulls in additional revenue. Then you have the paper lottery piece, which was going to focus on education. I think as comprehensive as we can be, you’ve got to do that piece, too, for education. You’ve got to bring them in. And then you’ve got the sports gaming piece as well, too. People are driving to other states just to participate in that now.”
“We’re leaving money on the table if we don’t do it comprehensively,” he added. “If we don’t do anything at all, we’re just letting money go to other states to help them, Jeff. So, I’m all for comprehensive on this. But at the same time, before we send it to the people to vote, the enabling legislation truly needs to be spelled out. I think when the citizens who go to vote at the polls, if we ever get to that point, they need to understand what they are voting on exactly, where the money will go if it does pass, how gaming in the state would be legislated and overseen by the commission all the way through.”
The Russell County Republican said House action on the measure was likely contingent on what happened in the Senate next week or if Gov. Kay Ivey were to get involved.
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.
