Alabamians Support Legalized Casino and Lottery Gambling

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Thursday, August 6th, 2015 | Written by Charles Washington

Gambling is a term used to describe betting on games of chance in order to win money or some other material benefit. Just like investing, gambling involves risk and the final outcome depends upon the player’s luck and skills, to some extent. Casinos are the facilities where the aforementioned games are organized, but only if the venue has a special permit granted to it by local authorities. While it is true gambling is a legal activity under US federal law, the different states have different restrictions in place and are free to prohibit or limit the practice as they see fit.

Alabama One Of Worst States For US Gamblers

Alabama is one of the states with the most restrictive laws when it comes to casinos and gambling, and according to the state law, gambling in Alabama is allowed only when it involves charitable or pari-mutuel gambling. The Tribal areas have special laws too. As a result, Alabama currently has just three Native American casinos, namely Creek Casino Montgomery, Creek Casino Wetumpka and Wind Creek Casino, which offer only electronic slot machines but no table games. There are also four greyhound race tracks, but no lottery.

No State Lottery

Alabama is one of six US states to have no state run lottery, the others being Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada, and Utah. At this point, it is worth pointing out that many counties used to allow lottery gambling or so-called electronic bingo, as according to many experts this was a grey area. In 2010, governor Bob Riley subsequently set up a task force that focused on closing these parlors, but the Alabama Supreme Court subsequently made a decision that forced Governor Riley to disband the organization and these electronic bingo parlors started up again. After a few months of wrangling, however, Bob Riley subsequently won his battle with lotteries and bingo parlors and since the end of 2010 they have been illegal in all the state’s counties. In 2012, the Alabama Supreme Court again affirmed its decision by a vote of 9-0, and as Attorney General Luther Strange explained at the time:

“This ruling from the highest court in our state once again confirms that so-called ‘electronic bingo’ is illegal under state law.”

80% Of Alabamians Favor Legislation

The good news is that the number of Alabamians that support the legalization of casino and lottery gambling is constantly growing. According to a recent poll of 809 registered voters, and conducted by The Alabama Jobs Foundation (a non-profit group), the vast majority of Alabamians are in favor of legalization of casinos and a state lottery. The numbers are incredible, too. More than 85% of Alabamians would like to vote on this matter. About 80% of them support a lottery for education. Some 70% of them are in favor of implementation of a gambling constitutional amendment before any gambling activity begins. Finally, more than 75% support Senator Del Marsh’s plan that offers an alternative solution in case casino and lottery gambling is not legalized. Marsh’s plan would allow the Poarch Band of Creek Indians to have exclusive rights to manage gambling in Alabama if they agree to pay taxes to the state on their revenue that comes from this activity.

Numbers Not Surprising

Senator Marsh (photo) claims that he is not surprised by the incredibly high approval numbers because he says all recent polls conducted point to a constantly growing support for casino and lottery gambling in Alabama, something he says will continue to increase in the future. Commenting on the poll, Chip Hill, executive Director of the Alabama Jobs Foundation, said:

“This poll gives us every reason to be optimistic as we go forth in our efforts to promote passage of a constitutional amendment that is being proposed by Sen. Del Marsh.”

Hopefully, this poll should now encourage authorities to organize a referendum on this question. Nevertheless, we should keep in mind that the poll’s numbers are highest when it comes to lotteries-for-education. In other words, most people want any potential income from gambling to be used for things that are useful for the community.

Economic Impact

According to Senator Marsh, legalizing gambling at Alabama’s four race tracks and creating a state lottery would funnel around $400 million each year towards state coffers, whilst creating up to 11,000 new jobs. The overall economic impact on the state is then expected to be around $1.3 billion. This would certainly go some way towards helping Alabama tackle its budget deficit, with the state this year expected to experience a short-term budget gap of $250 million. Commenting on the issue, Marsh explained:

“You’ve got to understand, whereas Republicans may not favor gaming strongly, they definitely oppose higher taxes. When you’re left with the option of the governor increasing taxes, I think it’s only fair to let the people vote on it. The taxes would not. Let the people make that decision before we tax them.”