When lottery jackpots are high, you can bet many people from Alabama will drive across state lines for a chance to cash in. Alabama is one of five states where you can’t buy a lottery ticket. Some lawmakers say the lack of a state-run lottery means Alabama loses hundreds of millions each year.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are closer now than we have ever been,” State Senator Greg Albritton (R-District 22) said in February.
Earlier this year, a group of bipartisan lawmakers proposed comprehensive gaming legislation to include a lottery, sports betting, some casinos, and a state gambling commission with lottery money going to the education fund and all gaming proceeds going to the general fund. Projected revenues would be between $800 million and $1 billion, according to lawmakers.
The House passed the plan in February, but less than a month later, the Senate passed a scaled down version taking out sports betting and casino gaming, leaving the lottery and allowing it to be voted on in September, not November.
The process stalled until this week when lawmakers decided to go into a conference committee to make some compromises for Alabamians to have a chance to vote on a state lottery this year.
“We’re still sitting here, what 25 years later, since the last time the citizens got to vote on something,” Rep. Chris Blackshear (R-Lee and Russell Counties) said.
In 1999, voters rejected a lottery after former Governor Don Siegelman campaigned on one. In the past 25 years, there have been multiple attempts to pass a lottery but they’ve failed due to a number of things, including opposition from other gambling interests like casinos and sports betting groups according to Todd Stacy, the publisher of Alabama Daily News, who closely follows the legislature.
“They want to attach themselves to that golden ticket because if they don’t, they know that passing casino gambling, passing sports betting is unlikely to happen by itself. They want to attach themselves to the lottery plan so that’s why it’s getting really complicated and that’s why it’s really difficult for the legislature and the governor to really pass a comprehensive plan,” Stacy said.