Bills on a lottery and casinos come up in the Alabama Legislature every year. Some years, like in 2021, they get serious consideration. But this year, at least for now, gambling legislation appears to be a longshot.

Rep. Chris Blackshear, R-Phenix City, the House sponsor of the proposal that came close to passing two years ago, said he is not working on a bill for the 2023 legislative session, which starts March 7. Blackshear did not rule out a proposal but said the large freshman class — 31 of 105 House members are new — makes it harder to gauge support. Gambling bills require a three-fifths vote to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot for voters.

“The first thing I feel like we need to do is really take some time and educate the new members of the body,” Blackshear said. “Starting at ground zero, what exists (in gambling in Alabama) today, kind of the lay of the land today.”

House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, newly elected to that position this year, has also expressed reservations about pursuing a gambling bill this year, in part because of the large freshman class in the House.

A key Senate advocate for a lottery and casinos bill, Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, said it’s up to the House to initiate a bill this year. Albritton noted that the Senate has passed the legislation more than once, including two years ago, only to see the bill die in the House. Albritton said he won’t push a bill this year unless the House moves first.

“It wouldn’t do any good,” Albritton said. “I think we’ve proven in the Senate that we can pass a bill.”

“My point of view is that it’s up to the House to make a decision as to whether people have the opportunity to vote for any kind of gaming and gambling at all,” he said.

The senator does not agree with the point that the large class of first-year lawmakers is a reason to put off legislation because they need to be brought up to speed.

“This issue has been before the people for more than 20 years,” Albritton said. “And all these people that are newly elected had to run for about a year beforehand. I would have thought they would have gotten themselves educated as to the issues before they got elected.”

In 1999, Alabama voters rejected a lottery proposal by a vote of 54 percent to 46 percent. More than 180 gambling bills have been proposed since then. But the lottery has not made it back to the ballot. Forty-five states have lotteries, including the four that border Alabama.

Jess Brown, a retired political science professor from Athens State University and longtime observer of gambling legislation in Alabama, said the explanations from lawmakers about why they have not put another lottery proposal on the ballot for voters strike him as shallow and evasive.

“The reason independent, free minded, rational thinking Alabamians should be concerned about this is this has now gone on for years and if we are to believe the annual revenue estimates for the state on a lottery, the state has now paid a multi-billion dollar price for allowing this situation to go on year after year after year,” Brown said.

For the legislation two years ago, the Legislative Services Agency estimated a lottery would raise $200 million to $300 million a year in revenue for the state, and casinos would raise $300 million to $400 million.

Gov. Kay Ivey supported the lottery and casinos legislation two years ago and said in January her position has not changed, that she wants voters to have a chance to settle the issue. A gambling policy study group appointed by Ivey issued a report in December 2020 that said a lottery, casinos, and sports betting could generate $510 million to $710 million for the state, as well as create 19,000 jobs. A survey commissioned by the study group found that 71 percent of Alabama voters favored a lottery, with 25 percent opposed. The survey found that 63 percent favored casino-style slot machines, with 32 percent opposed.

Read the report of the Governor’s Study Group on Gambling Policy.

Like Albritton, Blackshear said it’s up to the House to take the initiative this year because the Senate has done so previously only to see bills die in the House.

“I’m a firm believer that if we’re ever going to get this to the finish line in whatever format that may look like, I think it’s got to start in the House,” Blackshear said. “I think the House has to get something out to basically show the Senate that we’re in the game too, we’re on board to find an overall solution.”

While Blackshear said he doesn’t know the positions of the 27 new Republicans in the House, he said his gut feeling is that they won’t tilt the vote count in favor of a gambling bill.

“I don’t see the needle being moved in a positive direction if you’re on the positive side of wanting to proceed forward with a comprehensive plan at this point,” Blackshear said.

Albritton, Blackshear, and Ivey all support what they call a “comprehensive” gambling proposal, as opposed to a lottery-only bill. The 2021 plan included a lottery, six new casinos, sports betting, and a statewide regulatory commission. Four of the casinos would have been at the state’s greyhound tracks in Birmingham, Mobile, Greene County, and Macon County. One would have been in Houston County. The sixth would have been in northeast Alabama and operated by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians under a compact with the state. The Poarch Creeks already operate three electronic bingo casinos on tribal lands in Atmore, Wetumpka, and Montgomery.

Brown said “comprehensive” has become code language for the message that Alabama voters won’t get a chance to vote on a stand-alone proposal for a lottery even though he believes it would pass overwhelmingly. Brown said that is because gambling interests, including the Poarch Creeks, the greyhound tracks, and supporters of electronic bingo that operates in some counties under local constitutional amendments all want parts of the pie in a constitutional amendment. And they have enough influence among lawmakers to block a lottery-only bill from getting to the ballot.

“In the past, the barrier to gambling in Alabama was legislators’ fear of a public that had moral reservations and had moral angst about gambling,” Brown said. “I think today the main barriers about the Legislature moving on gambling has to do with an internal fight among the various constituencies that are pro-gambling.

“I am convinced there is enormous support for a lottery. A pure lottery bill, legislators could pass largely without any adverse political consequences. The voters, I am convinced would support a lottery almost 2 to 1. Particularly if at least half the money goes to public schools.”

For years, the Poarch Creeks have advocated for a compact with the state that would allow the tribe to offer the full range of casino games in exchange for sharing some revenues with the state. Currently, Alabama receives no tax revenue from the electronic bingo games on tribal lands, which fall under federal law, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

In response to questions for this story, the tribe said it continues to support a “comprehensive” plan similar to the one the Senate passed two years ago, as opposed to a lottery-only plan.

“A standalone lottery is estimated to generate between approximately $200M per year while a comprehensive plan that includes a lottery, gaming, and sports betting could generate upwards of $710M per year not to mention the direct and indirect benefits realized from the construction/expansion of new and current gaming facilities,” the Poarch Creeks said in the statement from Kristin Hellmich, director of external communications. “The majority of these combined revenues would be derived from both the lottery and casino style gaming.

“After reviewing data from our polling, along with the results of the Governor’s study, it is clear the financial impacts of a comprehensive gaming bill are certainly much more beneficial to our state in the end. We feel at this point, the State Legislators should address the entire issue. At the end of the day, we just want to give the people in the State of Alabama the opportunity to vote on a bill.”

Blackshear, asked about the likelihood he will have a bill this year, said, “If you ask me to put in on a scale of 1 to 10, I may put it right in the middle at 5 being the best.”

Blackshear said the lack of a bill this year would not necessarily be a setback for proponents of a lottery and casino bill. He said lawmakers could pass a bill next year and get it on the ballot for the 2024 general election, which he said would be the optimal time for the statewide vote.

“If we have to educate and we have to punt it to the ‘24 session, I still think that gives everyone plenty of time to advocate to the public,” Blackshear said. “I still think that gives plenty of time to get out in public and get their message out on both sides of that leading into the 2024 election.”

Blackshear said putting a proposal on the 2024 ballot would avoid the cost of a special election and submit the proposal to the maximum number of voters.

“Presidential years are typically your largest voter turnout,” Blackshear said. “I think if we’re going to allow the citizens to vote we ought to make it easy for as many citizens to vote as possible.”