The House approved gambling expansion, but one Senator doesn’t expect it to go further
Supporters of legislation in Alabama to allow voters to approve sports betting, casino gambling and a statewide lottery recently celebrated its passage in the House last week. However, the bill will apparently hit a roadblock in the Alabama Senate.
The proposal was initially set to go to the Senate committee and the floor this week, but one of the bill’s proponents, Senator Greg Albritton, says it won’t be on the agenda. He didn’t provide more details about why, but two legislators involved in the negotiations commented that several important issues must be settled before securing the 21 votes needed to pass.
“The votes are likely there, depending on the bill, but there are still a lot of important ingredients missing from this cake,” said one lawmaker. “If they rush this thing, they’ll probably be short. That’s why there’s a delay.”
Various interested parties, including lawmakers and lobbyists, believe the most profound issues include Medicaid expansion, indecision about where the Poarch Band of Creek Indians stand and a shortage of leadership within the Senate and governor’s office to pass the bill.
The legislation doesn’t include Medicaid expansion, and sources say that Alabama has no traditional plans to expand Medicaid. Lawmakers look to explore a public-private partnership giving federal Medicaid dollars to private insurance plans for low-income citizens, similar to Arkansas.
Lawmakers are also unsure where the Poarch Creek Indians stand on the bill, as the tribe has communicated several issues with the legislation, including a lack of assurances on their interests. Sources close to the tribe say it still can’t support the legislation in its current form.
Moving the legislation forward will likely involve a push from Senate President Pro Tem Greg Reed and/or Governor Kay Ivey. Both support the current gambling bill.
