{"id":29015,"date":"2015-05-19T19:45:58","date_gmt":"2015-05-20T02:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=29015"},"modified":"2015-05-19T19:45:58","modified_gmt":"2015-05-20T02:45:58","slug":"alabama-senate-committee-approves-gambling-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-senate-committee-approves-gambling-expansion\/","title":{"rendered":"Alabama Senate Committee Approves Gambling Expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Alabama
Del Marsh believes gambling revenues are the best way to balance Alabama\u2019s budget. (Image: Charles J. Dean\/AL.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An Alabama casino gambling bill narrowly passed through committee last week, giving the legislation the chance to be heard by the full State Senate.<\/p>\n

The bill, known as SB 453, passed through the Tourism and Marketing Committee by a five to three vote on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The bill is designed to help produce new revenue for the state in two ways.<\/p>\n

First, it would create a state lottery that would be regulated by an Alabama Lottery and Gaming Commission.<\/p>\n

Bill Would Allow for Four Casinos<\/b><\/h2>\n

Perhaps more dramatically, that commission would also be charged with overseeing the introduction of casino gambling in the state.<\/p>\n

Such operations would be allowed at four horse racing<\/a> tracks throughout the state, the first time casino<\/a> games like slot machines, blackjack, and other table games would be allowed in the state.<\/p>\n

The bill, which would amend the state constitution, was introduced earlier this month by Senate President Del Marsh (R-Anniston). He said that with the state needing an influx of revenue, he would rather see that money come through legalized gambling than via a tax increase.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a big piece of legislation, a very controversial piece,\u201d Marsh said at a public hearing on the bill held Tuesday. \u201cBut I think it\u2019s an option that should be put there as an option to help try to solve some of the budget problems in this state.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Many Miss Electronic Bingo Casinos<\/b><\/h2>\n

During those hearings, there was impassioned testimony from all sides of the issue. Many people spoke of wanting to see the return of gaming to facilities that once had it, before so-called electronic bingo casinos were shut down in the state following an Alabama Supreme Court ruling last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen good hardworking people doing without, getting close to hungry,\u201d said Macon County hardware store owner Brent Thomas, who said that his area had been hurt tremendously by the closure of the VictoryLand bingo casino.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Meanwhile, others argued against any gaming expansion, saying that most of the money that the state made from the games would be coming from the poor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a tax,\u201d said Joe Godfrey, executive director of the Alabama Citizens Action Project. \u201cIt\u2019s a tax on the poor. It preys on the people who can least afford to pay it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Native American Casinos Active in State<\/b><\/h2>\n

Still others pointed out that there was already gaming in the state, as the Poarch Band of Creek Indians already operate three casinos with electronic bingo machines in Alabama.<\/p>\n

That, Marsh said, meant the choice wasn\u2019t between having gambling or not, but rather whether the state would collect revenue from the gambling that was occurring.<\/p>\n

As for the Poarch Band, they say that the new bill doesn\u2019t contain enough rules about exactly what would be allowed at the race tracks where gambling would be allowed, which could leave loopholes that operators will try to exploit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like handing your teenager a credit card with no rules attached and then being surprised when you get a bill that looks like the Alabama budget deficit,\u201d said Robert McGhee, treasurer of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians Tribal Council. \u201cIt\u2019s a backwards thinking that opens the door to potentially irresponsible practices that would be hard to rein in after the fact.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill would allow for casino gambling at race tracks in Birmingham, Macon, Mobile and Greene County. Proponents say that gambling expansion could create over $400 million in new revenue and 11,000 jobs for the state.<\/p>\n

In order to approve a change to the state constitution to allow for gambling, three-fifths of the legislature would have to back the bill, as would a majority of voters in a state referendum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Alabama casino gambling bill narrowly passed through committee last week, giving the legislation the chance to be heard by the full State Senate. The bill, known as SB 453, passed through the Tourism and Marketing Committee by a five to three vote on Thursday. The bill is designed to help produce new revenue for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":29016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,13,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAlabama Senate Committee Approves Gambling Expansion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An Alabama State Senate committee has approved a bill that would allow for a state lottery and casinos, but the full Senate is yet to debate the legislation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alabama Senate Committee Approves Gambling Expansion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An Alabama State Senate committee has approved a bill that would allow for a state lottery and casinos, but the full Senate is yet to debate the legislation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-senate-committee-approves-gambling-expansion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-05-20T02:45:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/17622936-large.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"287\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-senate-committee-approves-gambling-expansion\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-senate-committee-approves-gambling-expansion\/\",\"name\":\"Alabama Senate Committee Approves Gambling Expansion\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-senate-committee-approves-gambling-expansion\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-senate-committee-approves-gambling-expansion\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/17622936-large.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-20T02:45:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-05-20T02:45:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"An Alabama State Senate committee has approved a bill that would allow for a state lottery and casinos, but the full Senate is yet to debate the legislation.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-senate-committee-approves-gambling-expansion\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-senate-committee-approves-gambling-expansion\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-senate-committee-approves-gambling-expansion\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/17622936-large.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/17622936-large.jpg\",\"width\":380,\"height\":287,\"caption\":\"Del Marsh believes gambling revenues are the best way to balance Alabama\u2019s budget. 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