Next week could be another make-or-break week for State Sen. Del Marsh’s (R-Anniston) comprehensive gaming proposal as far as the 2021 regular session goes.
After a week away from the State House in Montgomery, lawmakers in the upper chamber are set to debate a revised proposal that will reportedly include the so-called enabling legislation sought by some of the “no” votes when the Marsh proposal went to the floor earlier this month.
State Sen. David Sessions (R-Grand Bay), one of those “no” votes, said he objected to the bill because of its “comprehensive” nature, which includes lottery, casino gaming and sports betting.
Sessions told Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5’s “The Jeff Poor Show” he thought a lottery-only bill stood a “very good chance” of passage and suggested separating the lottery and casino gaming into two separate constitutional amendments.
“[I] think that has a very good chance of passing,” he said. “You don’t know if the casino interests are going to fight it to where it doesn’t get the support it needs to get out. There’s a lot of moving parts. There’s a lot of money. It always seems like it is about the money. But I would like to see if we do put something out there for the people to vote on that it is clear. It would be separate, you know. If people in this state decide they want casinos and all, I mean, that’s fine but make it separate from a lottery proposal.”
When asked if he could support a casino gaming-only constitutional amendment, Sessions revealed he could not but added he thought it could pass without his vote.
“I think you could get the support for that without me,” Sessions replied. “I really do. I just can’t — fundamentally, I can’t support casino gaming. I just can’t do it. The lottery is one thing. I would vote for that, to send it to the people, really against my better judgment. Like I say, I go back to the very first time I ran for office — 2010, 2011. I was asked about it then. It is a bad way to fund government. And I understand everybody is doing it. Mississippi is doing it big time. Georgia uses a lottery. Florida has a lottery, Tennessee. I understand we’re surrounded. It makes it tough. I hate for our people to have to drive to get lottery tickets. I understand that. The casino thing is just a totally different situation for me.”
@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.
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