Alabama recently joined the sports betting conversation under a bill filed on Tuesday. However, sports gambling will be just one piece of the puzzle for a state that is considering other changes to its gambling landscape.
On Thursday before a state Senate committee, some lawmakers discussed effectively two competing lottery proposals, one of which contains reference to sports wagering. After at least 20 years worth of conversation about establishing a state lottery, Alabama remains in the small minority of states without one. Establishing one would have to be approved by voters. In the late 1990s, voters gave a thumbs down.
The brief hearing, which didn’t feature discussion of sports betting and also didn’t see a vote on the lottery proposals, appeared to include your run-of-the-mill opposition to gambling from social conservatives. Sports betting, which hasn’t received its own hearing yet, will surely feature similar criticisms. Thanks, in part, to the lack of success on the lottery front, Alabama is an underdog for sports betting legalization anytime soon.
Alabama does have three tribal casinos run by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, which offer electronic gambling but no live dealer table games. There are more than 6,500 electronic gaming machines between the three properties. The Poarch Band of Creek Indians are the only federally recognized tribe in the state.
The arguments against "gambling" would carry more weight if we didn't have three casinos racking in billions. #alpolitics
— Josh Moon (@Josh_Moon) April 4, 2019
Sports betting proposal
HB 315: Unlike an Alabama Lottery, sports betting could be authorized by the legislature without statewide voter approval. The sports betting bill would create an Alabama Sports Wagering Commission to oversee the activity.
The reason Alabama wouldn’t have to amend its constitution for sports wagering is because gambling on sports has an element of skill, unlike the lottery. It makes sports betting’s passage likely easier than a state lotto, but one should not expect sports wagering to leapfrog the lottery issue.
The legislation calls for seven licenses for sports wagering (10% tax and $100k application fee), available to the existing tracks and potentially others. Licensees could offer mobile sports wagering, pending approval by the commission. The legislation hints at tribal-run sports wagering by allowing the commission to “enter into sports wagering agreements with other governments.” The bill doesn’t explicitly mention tribal gaming.
“The only ways the legislature can affect Indian gaming is by passing a resolution authorizing the governor to negotiate a compact with the tribe (although there’s debate over whether that is necessary or binding) or by approving gambling elsewhere in the state that the tribe doesn’t currently offer,” Moon, a reporter and columnist for the Alabama Political Reporter, told Sports Handle.
The sports betting bill is sponsored by Rep. John Rogers, a Democrat, and Rep. Parker Moore, a Republican.
The lottery bills
SB 116/SB 130: Under the proposals by state Sen. Jim McClendon, a Republican, the state’s four pari-mutuel facilities could have video lottery terminals (VLTs). It would also authorize the sale of traditional lottery tickets buy authorized retailers, bringing Alabama into multi-state games like Mega Millions and Powerball. Additionally, McClendon’s proposal calls for establishing an internet lottery system.
To be clear, McClendon's bill does not expand gambling. It provides for 4 tracks to operate video lottery terminals, which are similar to the machines the Poarch Creeks are operating right now. They're opposed bc the VLTs are competition #alpolitics
— Josh Moon (@Josh_Moon) April 4, 2019
McClendon’s SB 130 bill does not call for the regulation of sports wagering, but it does call for there to be an established tax rate for the activity. Here’s the single line mentioning sports betting:
“A state gross receipts tax shall be levied on the sports wagering gross revenue generated from sports wagers. The Legislature shall set this rate by general law.”
It isn’t much, but it could provide a route for the tracks to offer sports betting under the regulation of an Alabama Lottery Commission. The bill also states: “The [lottery] corporation may allow lottery games of all types, including new lottery games.”
SB 220: This proposal is also a lottery bill, and it’s backed by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, who have the three existing video gambling facilities in Alabama. It would authorize only paper lottery tickets, and so it wouldn’t give the tracks the ability to have VLTs. The bill would also prohibit internet/mobile lottery play. The measure is apparently very controversial under the argument that it stifles gaming competition.
I don't understand how anyone could put their name on a bill as awful as Albritton's. It is a 100% gift to the Poarch Creeks at the expense of state citizens. #alpolitics
— Josh Moon (@Josh_Moon) April 4, 2019
What does this all mean?
Alabama’s legislature ends in mid-June, so there’s only about two months left in the session.
Thursday’s hearing on the dueling lottery bills indicates that we’re currently at the very early stages of Alabama’s sports betting conversation. It would be a good bet to expect a multi-year debate about sports gambling, despite the robust underground betting market on Alabama college sports.
“We all know that sports wagering is probably more popular in Alabama than in any city this side of Las Vegas,” Moon wrote in an op-ed around the time of the filing of the lottery bills.
“Every male over 16 has ‘a man,’ who they call to put 100 bucks on the Bama game or drop $50 on the Auburn over, or they’re dumping money into online gaming sites.”
Of course, the legislation is not drawing dead. Stay tuned for any hearings in the coming weeks.
