Alabama’s Poarch Band of Creek Indians is requesting amendments to a pair of gambling bills filed in the state legislature last week, according to biggest proposed gambling expansion in state history.
The proposed bills will would allow for in-person and online sports betting, retail casinos, and a state lottery. Alabama is currently one of five U.S. states that does not have a lottery.
Ahead of the weekend, drafts of proposed amendments, which seek to give the Poarch Creeks a casino in Birmingham rather than northeast Alabama, were leaked. But Monday, the Alabama Political Reporter published a story saying the proposed language wasn’t ready to be shared, and that the amendments were “only a step in the negotiation process.”
The name of a horse track owner, who was said to be in of the change, was in the leaked language. But Dr. Lewis Benefield, CEO of VictoryLand and the Birmingham Race Course, said he had never seen the amendment language and did not agree that the Poarch Creeks should have the option of a Birmingham location.
Despite that, Benefield told the Reporter that negotiations were moving forward.
“I believe we are working toward getting a really good bill ed, one that works for all the parties and works best for the people of Alabama,” Benefield told the news outlet.
Up to 10 casinos and plenty of other gambling n6b15
The gaming bills, which would ultimately send the decision to legalize to voters, would allow for up to 10 brick-and-mortar casino locations, including three existing Poarch Creek properties and one proposed Poarch Creek location.
Digital sports betting platforms would be tethered to the casinos. Where the six commercial casinos could be located is spelled out in the bill, and include the city of Birmingham and the counties of Greene, Houston, Lowndes, Macon, and Mobile.
Alabama lawmakers and government staff have spent considerable time since 2020 researching, discussing, and crafting a gambling expansion bill. A 2020 study revealed that legal gambling would be good for the state, and Gov. Kate Ivey has been ive. Bills have come up in multiple sessions, moving the discussion forward.
In this episode of Capitol Journal, we review the high points on school choice, gambling, absentee voting and other key bills in what was a busy first week of the 2024 legislative session.#ALPoliticshttps://t.co/9i2gt7LpWC
— Alabama Daily News (@ALDailyNews) February 12, 2024
The Poarch Creeks currently have a monopoly on gambling in the state and have been working with lawmakers to protect their interests. But as commercial operators and lawmakers everywhere from Connecticut can attest, tribal, government, and commercial interests don’t always align, adding another wrinkle to what is already a complicated issue.
Though no commercial operators are named in the bills or have had a chance to testify, lawmakers are already pointing to “out-of-state entities” as being at the heart of the current issues. With at least 10 digital licenses available should the bill , it would follow that the biggest operators — FanDuel — would be interested in entering the market.
The bills have been assigned to the House Economic Development and Tourism Committee, where they await a hearing date. Alabama’s legislative session is set to end May 20, and bills that don’t this session will not carry over to 2025.
