State Sen. Greg Albritton’s (R-Atmore) comprehensive gaming bill appears to have met its fate in the 2022 regular legislative session, according to State Sen. Steve Livingston (R-Scottsboro).
During a Tuesday appearance on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal,” Livingston detailed the current state of Albritton’s proposal to establish a state education lottery and gambling commission.
If passed by the legislature and approved as a constitutional amendment on a ballot vote of the citizenry, the measure would authorize a fifth casino site run by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians to be located in Livingston’s district in either DeKalb or Jackson County.
In what was already an uphill battle to pass gaming legislation through the Alabama House of Representatives, Livingston said the ambitious measure has yet to garner enough support to gain Senate approval.
“Well, after this week we’ll be seven days left so I know Senator Albritton’s working hard to get it on the floor on Thursday of this week,” advised Livingston. “It sounds like it’s ever-changing. I personally don’t think he’s got the votes to get it out of the Senate just yet. But he is pushing really hard to get a hearing on the floor. Maybe he wants to get it on the floor just to have a conversation about it with the understanding of that it won’t pass this year.”
He added, “I know the House has been really hard that they’re not going to take it up in any capacity. They’ve even mentioned sending up a simple lottery bill to us, a simple clean lottery bill, but we haven’t seen that yet either.”
When asked by host Todd Stacy about the prospects of legislation passing the upper chamber that only addresses the issue of a lottery rather than gaming, Livingston indicated that the Senate would opt not to support such a measure.
“I don’t believe. I think it’ll get tied back to the casino or gaming bill as the case may be,” said Livingston. “And I believe it would be amended rather quickly and sent back to them, which I don’t think they’re prepared to receive something that’s been amended like that. And you’re going to see the outside interests outside the state get active when you start talking about the lottery bill and then also gaming.”
Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.