{"id":318096,"date":"2024-04-23T10:44:30","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T15:44:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=318096"},"modified":"2024-04-23T11:00:24","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T16:00:24","slug":"alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/","title":{"rendered":"Alabama Gaming Conference Committee Gathers to Find Resolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

A special committee in Alabama formed of three state senators and three House lawmakers gathered this week in Montgomery to try and iron out differences between the two legislative chambers on how to go about expanding gaming in the Cotton State.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Alabama
Alabama Sen. Greg Albritton (left) talks with Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro). Albritton and Singleton are part of a state conference committee negotiating an agreement on differing gaming bills passed by the Senate and House of Representatives. (Image: AL.com<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sens. Greg Albritton (R-Atmore), Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman), and Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro) are negotiating with Reps. Chris Blackshear (R-Phenix City), Andy Whitt (R-Madison), and Sam Jones (D-Mobile). The goal of the conference committee<\/a> is to find a middle ground between polarizing gaming measures passed by the House of Representatives and Senate.<\/span><\/p>\n

In February, the House approved legislation that would allow voters to determine whether they want to expand gambling in the state. The House measures seek to permit as many as six commercial casinos and four tribal casinos, with Las Vegas-style slot machines, live dealer table games, and sports betting permitted at the properties.<\/span><\/p>\n

The House statutes<\/a> additionally included the authorization of a state-run lottery that would participate in interstate games like Mega Millions and Powerball.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The Senate opposed the gaming package and voted to strip down the bill<\/a>. The version the Senate signed off on would allow only three tribal casinos with slots and tables but no sports betting. Instead of commercial casinos, the Senate wants to allow slot-like historical horse racing (HHR) machines at the state’s four pari-mutuel wagering racetracks that previously ran dog races.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Senate also proposed holding a special election in September for Alabamans to consider the gaming referendum, which would still include a lottery formation<\/a>, instead of conducting the ballot initiative during the 2024 general election.<\/span><\/p>\n

Resolution Outlook<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

Gambling in Alabama remains severely restricted. The state doesn’t currently have commercial or Class III tribal casinos, sports betting, lottery games, racinos, or iGaming. The only current permissible forms of gambling are charitable games like pull tabs, pari-mutuel wagering, and Class II electronic bingo-based gaming at the Poarch Band of Creek Indians’ Wind Creek casinos in Atmore, Montgomery, and Wetumpka.<\/span><\/p>\n

For a legislative-initiated constitutional referendum to reach voters, three-fifths majority support is needed in each chamber. That means 21 votes in the Senate and 63 votes in the House.<\/span><\/p>\n

Albritton stressed that a compromise will likely result in some lawmakers rescinding their support if what they want is removed from the end product. Likening the process to a “whack-a-mole” game, the longtime gaming proponent said the committee has the difficult task of finding common ground that retains the required 60% support threshold.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

It’s very tenuous. We’ve never been this close before and yet we’ve never been so far either as far as the number of votes required. It’s a challenge,” Albritton told 1819 News<\/i><\/a> of the chambers’ differences.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Many state senators voiced concerns about the commercial gaming component included in the House version.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I’ve never been a really big supporter of gambling,” said Sen. David Sessions (R-Grand Bay). “I don’t want to see a big, full-blown expansion but we’ll see what the conference committee comes out with.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Governor Maintains Support<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) continues to support authorizing new forms of gambling to provide consumer protections while generating new tax streams for the state.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

[The governor] is hopeful the House and Senate can get this done,” an Ivey spokesperson said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

State fiscal projections estimate that Alabama is missing out on around a half-billion dollars in annual tax revenue by continuing its lottery and casino prohibition.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gaming expansion bills continue to be discussed by state lawmakers in Alabama.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":318108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,13],"tags":[81997,90649,87127,90648,81899,13701,80968,83159],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAlabama Gaming Conference Committee Gathers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A special committee in Alabama gathered this week to try and iron out differences on how to go about expanding gaming in the Cotton State.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alabama Gaming Conference Committee Gathers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A special committee in Alabama gathered this week to try and iron out differences on how to go about expanding gaming in the Cotton State.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/\" \/>\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=\"2024-04-23T15:44:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-23T16:00:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/PYEBT6BZEJGGLC2SNSDMUN5BUQ.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Devin O'Connor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CasinoorgDevinO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Devin O'Connor\" \/>\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-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/\",\"name\":\"Alabama Gaming Conference Committee Gathers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/PYEBT6BZEJGGLC2SNSDMUN5BUQ.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-23T15:44:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-23T16:00:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf\"},\"description\":\"A special committee in Alabama gathered this week to try and iron out differences on how to go about expanding gaming in the Cotton State.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/PYEBT6BZEJGGLC2SNSDMUN5BUQ.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/PYEBT6BZEJGGLC2SNSDMUN5BUQ.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Alabama Sen. Greg Albritton (left) talks with Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro). Albritton and Singleton are part of a state conference committee negotiating an agreement on differing gaming bills passed by the Senate and House of Representatives. (Image: AL.com)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Legislation\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legislation\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Alabama Gaming Conference Committee Gathers to Find Resolution\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf\",\"name\":\"Devin O'Connor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Devin O'Connor\"},\"description\":\"Devin O'Connor is a senior reporter for Casino.org, covering politics, casino business, entertainment and gaming news on the East Coast. Devin's passion for politics and background in the world of pop culture television gives him insight into the gaming industry backstories that often drive news these days. After graduating from Penn State University with a theater arts degree, he worked at MTV Networks\/Viacom from 2005 to 2010 as a writer and producer. His credits included Total Request Live, New Year's Eve specials, and a special featuring poker superstar Daniel Negreanu. He later moved on to the HGTV\/DIY Network, where he created, wrote, and produced three series specials: That's So House Hunters, That's So 80s, and That's So 90s. Devin came on board with Casino.org in 2014. He lives in Pennsylvania and is an avid marathoner, having completed 15 races. Contact Devin at devin.oconnor@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/devinoconnor\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CasinoorgDevinO\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/devin-oconnor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Alabama Gaming Conference Committee Gathers","description":"A special committee in Alabama gathered this week to try and iron out differences on how to go about expanding gaming in the Cotton State.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Alabama Gaming Conference Committee Gathers","og_description":"A special committee in Alabama gathered this week to try and iron out differences on how to go about expanding gaming in the Cotton State.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2024-04-23T15:44:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-04-23T16:00:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/PYEBT6BZEJGGLC2SNSDMUN5BUQ.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Devin O'Connor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@CasinoorgDevinO","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Devin O'Connor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/","name":"Alabama Gaming Conference Committee Gathers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/PYEBT6BZEJGGLC2SNSDMUN5BUQ.jpg","datePublished":"2024-04-23T15:44:30+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-23T16:00:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf"},"description":"A special committee in Alabama gathered this week to try and iron out differences on how to go about expanding gaming in the Cotton State.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/PYEBT6BZEJGGLC2SNSDMUN5BUQ.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/PYEBT6BZEJGGLC2SNSDMUN5BUQ.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Alabama Sen. Greg Albritton (left) talks with Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro). Albritton and Singleton are part of a state conference committee negotiating an agreement on differing gaming bills passed by the Senate and House of Representatives. (Image: AL.com)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/alabama-gaming-conference-committee-gathers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Legislation","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legislation\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Alabama Gaming Conference Committee Gathers to Find Resolution"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf","name":"Devin O'Connor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png","caption":"Devin O'Connor"},"description":"Devin O'Connor is a senior reporter for Casino.org, covering politics, casino business, entertainment and gaming news on the East Coast. Devin's passion for politics and background in the world of pop culture television gives him insight into the gaming industry backstories that often drive news these days. After graduating from Penn State University with a theater arts degree, he worked at MTV Networks\/Viacom from 2005 to 2010 as a writer and producer. His credits included Total Request Live, New Year's Eve specials, and a special featuring poker superstar Daniel Negreanu. He later moved on to the HGTV\/DIY Network, where he created, wrote, and produced three series specials: That's So House Hunters, That's So 80s, and That's So 90s. Devin came on board with Casino.org in 2014. He lives in Pennsylvania and is an avid marathoner, having completed 15 races. Contact Devin at devin.oconnor@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/devinoconnor\/","https:\/\/x.com\/CasinoorgDevinO"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/devin-oconnor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318096"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318096"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":318120,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318096\/revisions\/318120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}