State Rep. Chris Blackshear (R-Phenix City) believes that lawmakers will be unable to ignore the issue of gambling in the Yellowhammer State.

Blackshear discussed the issue recently on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal.”

“I’ll say this: We’re not currently working on anything,” Blackshear said. “But I will say, I don’t want to say next session, but I will say next quadrennium. I still think it is a conversation we have to have, Todd. The opponents of it — you know, you still hear we can’t afford the expansion of gaming in this state.”

“Well, there is two parts to that, and I would love to hear anybody on the opposing side of things to come to us with a solution of how do we then stop what’s already existing? You can’t touch what’s on tribal land, right? But there is a lot of other, some would argue, quasi-legal, -illegal gaming that exists across the state,” he added. “So, it’s growing every day. It’s popping up every day.”

Blackshear pointed out how some forms of gambling are already legal in the state, and will continue to create problems if it remains unregulated.

“So you and I can go right now and we can have put a go to set us up an account predictive markets, Kalshi or whatever, and we can do anything we want to right now, and place a bet right now. And when you do that in the state, unregulated, untaxed, but is existing,” he said. “So it’s again a conversation of when you know the elephants in the room, you’re sitting there looking at it, but you choose not to continue not to address it. I think we’re way past time on that and I think it’s time to let the people vote.”

He  also doesn’t think state leaders will be able to resist the potential tax revenue that could be generated from legalizing the practice.

“What’s the solution to reel that in and control it?” he asked. “There’s got to be some kind of control parameters. So, I absolutely think it’s going to be addressed. And the second prong of that is there’s revenue just sitting there. It’s easy to forget about hard times when your budgets have been so flush. You’ve been hearing us say for several years on the ETF side and the general fund side the extra money in the budgets are coming to an end. Well, that truly is coming to an end.”

Blackshear proposed a constitutional amendment to be voted on that would create a state lottery, legalize casino gambling, and legalize some sports betting in 2024, but it failed to pass.

“It will be a conversation I look forward to us having,” he continued. “I think it will happen, and I think yet again we’re going to have to do something. I think continuing to avoid the elephant in the room is not going to be the answer.”

Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee