Powerball officials say three winning tickets were purchased for the $1.58 billion jackpot on Wednesday, two of them in Alabama’s neighboring states of Tennessee and Florida.
According to Reuters, this is the second consecutive Powerball jackpot that has been won — at least in part — by a Tennessee resident. The previous Tennessee winner took home $144 million last November.
The frenzy to win a piece of the latest record-setting jackpot resulted in $1.3 million worth of tickets being bought every single minute in the state of Texas this week. Alabama, however, is one of six states in the country that does not participate in the Powerball system.
“We’re driving to Georgia and Tennessee. We’re driving out of state and spending our money and we’d like to spend our money right here at home,” said Alabama Senator Jim McClendon (R-Springville), who is sponsoring a lottery bill for the upcoming sessions of the Alabama legislature. “I am sponsoring this because of constituent requests. Throughout my district, people have said why don’t we have a lottery in Alabama?”
McClendon says he believes the lottery would raise $300 million in additional revenue for the state on an annual basis, but his bill does not stipulate what the funds would be used for.
Gambling advocates in recent years have pushed an “education lottery,” which would earmark the revenue to go toward the state’s education budget. But Alabama’s systemic budgeting issues are mostly centered in the General Fund, where the largest line items are Medicaid and prisons.
RELATED: State representative issues dire warning: ‘Medicaid could be the downfall of Alabama’
Polling indicates a sharp decline in support for a lottery that is not earmarked for education, but a Washington Post report published in 2012 called into question whether so called education lotteries actually benefit public schools anyway. According to the report, legislators in many states have concocted ways to keep the additional funds from ever making it into classrooms. In Texas, for instance, lottery funds paid for about two weeks of schooling for public school students in 1996. By 2010 it was down to three days.
A gambling expansion of any kind will face fierce opposition from Alabama’s large swath of evangelical voters.
Dr. Joe Godfrey, executive director of the Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP), an almost 80-year-old organization that describes itself as “Alabama’s moral compass,” last month expressed concerns that “illegal gambling is taking over this state” and reiterated his group’s opposition to an expansion of any kind.
This week, State Rep. Rich Wingo (R-Tuscaloosa) said he will work to block any lottery bill because “God won’t bless it.”
“I hope we’re seeking the word of God and for guidance,” he told ABC 33/40. “I find nowhere in the Bible does it talk about the lottery in a positive way… I am totally opposed to any kind of gaming, the lottery.”
Wingo specifically referenced Matthew 25, in which Jesus tells the “Parable of the Talents.” In the story, two servants who invest their master’s money wisely are blessed, while a third who buried his money in the sand was chastised for being “wicked and slothful.”
But there are signs that some longtime gambling opponents are considering softening their stance.
“Historically, I’ve opposed them,” said powerful state senator Jabo Waggoner (R- Vestavia Hills). But he says he is now considering throwing his support behind a bill that would bring the issue up for a vote again.
With little appetite among Republican lawmakers for additional tax increases, particularly after last year’s tense budget battles, gambling could continue to gain momentum as an alternative revenue stream that would prevent legislators from having to make additional cuts and reforms to state government.
The fact that two winners of the latest Powerball jackpot were from neighboring states will likely only increase public pressure in favor of bringing the lottery to Alabama, even though the chances of winning the latest round were an absurd 1 in 292 million.
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.