Roy B. Johnson
Alabama State Senator Merika Coleman says she will drop a bill next week that will offer Alabama voters an opportunity to answer a question that’s loomed over the state for years: Do you want gambling?
“Is this something that you want to do — yes or no?” said Coleman, D-Birmingham.
The bill would authorize a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment allowing the governor to create a gambling commission and allowing lawmakers to begin drafting legislation that outlines the regulations of a lottery, gaming and sports betting.
“The devil is in the details, and we’ve gotten caught up by them,” Coleman told AL.com. “This bill simply gives us the ability to come back and actually establish gaming in the state of Alabama. It’s not just the lottery, it’s gaming, it’s sports betting, it’s all of the stuff that folks are talking about.”
In 2024, a massive gambling bill that included a lottery, casinos, sports betting, a compact with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, and a commission to tax and regulate gambling passed the House with 70 votes, but fell one vote short in the Senate.
It was initially believed that gambling would not come up in this legislative session, as it’s an election year. “I think we missed the board,” state Sen. Greg Albritton, who has previously sponsored comprehensive gambling legislation, in December. Albritton, R-Atmore, cast a “no” vote that doomed the 2024 bill.
Coleman felt voters, many of whom flock to neighboring states for lottery tickets and other forms of gambling, are eager to have a say in the issue.
“Everywhere I go, people are asking, are we going to take this issue up?” Coleman said. “Since nobody else is talking about it, I said, ‘Why not me?’”
Alabamians haven’t seen gambling on the ballot since 1999 when it was rejected 54% to 46%.
The Alabama Constitution prohibits lotteries, so a bill authorizing one or any expansion of legal gambling must allow for a constitutional amendment. It takes a three-fifths vote — 21 of 35 senators and 63 of 105 representatives — to approve a constitutional amendment and send it to the ballot for voters.
Gov. Kay Ivey has supported putting a comprehensive gambling proposal on the ballot. Five years ago, she appointed a study commission, which found that the state could benefit from gambling.
“All of this gaming money is now going across the borders,” said Coleman, who serves on the Budget committee.
Restarting the gambling discussion is imperative, she said, because of looming state budget shortfalls. President Trump’s “big” bill, which he signed into law last July could cost the state millions in federal funds to programs like SNAP and Medicaid.