State Sen. Sam Givhan (R-Huntsville) isn’t buying some of the arguments by those who want to legalize gambling in the Yellowhammer State.
Some in the Legislature, including State Rep. Chris Blackshear (R-Phenix City), have proposed a constitutional amendment to be voted on that would create a state lottery, legalize casino gambling, and legalize some sports betting.
Givhan discussed the issue Thursday on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show.”
“I mean, there are certainly people that want to point out all these different things and saying, ‘Well, you know, you know, golly, we got to broaden gambling to control gambling.’ Well, why don’t we just enforce the laws we have on the books? I mean, and you know, and there’s ways that we can do that,” Givhan said. “There’s ways we could come up with a task force of there’s you know in funding it and whatnot, but that’s not that’s not ever part of the equation. It’s always no no no no. We got to expand gambling.”
The state lawmaker said most Alabamians are in favor of a lottery, but probably not fans of having new casinos in their backyards.
“It’s always with the guise of lottery, right? Which is what the people want,” he argued. “People want a lottery. They don’t want the casinos. Some districts more than others are very adamant about that, but they know they can’t pass. I mean, there’s no way if somebody tried to produce a constitutional amendment that said we want to do these bingo parlors and or whatever or full blown casinos and we want to do this and that without being connected with a lottery, there’s no way it ever gets through the Legislature.”
Another aspect to legalized gambling that has stirred up controversy is the prediction markets that are currently unregulated on the state level. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is challenging a federal proposal that he and 43 other state attorneys general say would improperly shield sports prediction markets from Alabama law.
“Maybe this goes somewhere, and you know certainly logical the position they’re taking,” Givhan added. “I don’t know if if the attorney general’s office could file some civil litigation now, trying to enjoin it. That may be a possibility. I don’t know how we necessarily prosecute them. That’s that’s for people that do that sort of work.”
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 X @Yaffee
