An Alabama state senator is working on legislation that could include a lottery, casinos, sports betting, and gambling regulations but said he has not yet rounded up enough votes for it to pass.

Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore,said it is past time for Alabama to regulate and tax gambling that is already prevalent across the state.

“Alabama has a moral obligation to take control of this industry that’s just expanding like crazy,” said Albritton, who has sponsored gambling bills in previous years.

“You look at sports gaming. Sports gaming is on a runaway track. Everyone’s involved in it. It’s in every medium that you see. And we’re just sitting back watching it grow, doing nothing about it.

“We’re suffering from the ills of it and will continue to suffer even more so until we do our duty and take control of this industry.”

Alabama is is one of five states that do not have a lottery and is surrounded by lottery states.

Sports betting is legal in 38 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

There has been no push for a lottery or other expansions of legal gambling during this year’s legislative session, which started in February.

There is still time. The session can last until May.

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Last year, the House passed a bill calling for a lottery, casinos, sports betting, a compact with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, and a commission to regulate gambling, if voters approved.

The Senate passed a scaled back version.

A compromise plan later got 20 votes in the Senate, one short of the three-fifths needed to pass and go to voters for final approval.

Albritton voted against that compromise bill.

He said he supports a more comprehensive plan like what the House passed, which was projected to raise about $900 million in state revenue.

“That was large enough to do everything,” Albritton said. “It covered all the bases that we’ve been through over the course of the years.

“But it went a little further than what many people in the Senate wanted to. And then we had blowback and that’s where we culled it down to where it became completely unviable.”

House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, who spearheaded the House legislation last year, said the House would wait on the Senate this year.

“The House has done their due diligence last year,” Ledbetter said before the session started in February. “If anything happens, it will have to be out of the Senate.”

Ledbetter has stood by that position since the session started and said last week he did not know the status of efforts in the Senate.

Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, said before the session he believed people should have a chance to vote on a lottery but considered the issue on the backburner until there was stronger support in the Senate.

Gudger said he did not want to see another lottery bill die by a single vote.

Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, has generally supported lottery and gambling bills. All eight Democratic senators voted for the compromise bill last year.

Singleton said last week it is important that the gambling legislation direct some of the funding to healthcare and to help keep rural hospitals open.

Albritton, who is chairman of the Senate’s General Fund committee, said he’s reached out to his colleagues and is working every day on the legislation.

He said it’s not hard to draft the bill because it can be patterned mostly after bills from previous years. The hard part is getting a commitment from senators.

“The biggest problem is there’s a feeling out there that they’re fatigued of it,” Albritton said. “They don’t want this to be addressed. They don’t want to have to have a vote on it.”

Alabama voters have not had their say on a lottery bill since rejecting a plan by Gov. Don Siegelman in 1999.

If the bill does not come up this year, Albritton said that could put it on hold until 2027.

All 140 legislative seats are on the ballot in 2026.

He said lawmakers generally do not want to tackle controversial issues in an election year.

“So, if we don’t get it done this year, it’s going to be a while before we get back to it, I’m afraid,” he said.