An Alabama state senator who carried a gambling package in that chamber said the legislation is running into trouble.
Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, a longtime proponent of legalizing gambling, told reporters Thursday the gambling legislation remains in the House basket, meaning the chamber has not taken action on changes made by the Senate.
"That may be indicative of the difficulties that this fine piece of legislation faces," Albritton said.
The House and Senate are sharply divided over the legislation, particularly over how much gambling each chamber is willing to accept.
The House version of the package -- a constitutional amendment authorizing gambling and enabling legislation on regulation, enforcement and distribution -- was developed by Reps. Chris Blackshear, R-Smiths Station, and Andy Whitt, R-Harvest. It would create a state lottery and authorize casino-style gambling and sports betting at seven locations around the state.
The legislation also created a state commission to regulate gambling and directed Gov. Kay Ivey to negotiate a compact with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, a federally recognized tribe that operates casinos in Atmore, Montgomery and Wetumpka.
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Supporters said the bill could add up to $1.2 billion a year to state coffers. The House package would have allocated money from the lottery to education programs, including postsecondary scholarships, and casino and sports betting revenues to other programs, including mental health and a "rural health care" program that used language similar to Medicaid expansion. The Legislature would have the final say in spending the money.
The House focused almost exclusively on the gambling legislation from the beginning of the session Feb. 6 until the bills passed the House on Feb. 15.
The bills lingered in the Senate for weeks, passing March 8 after a tense floor session. The Senate significantly altered the legislation, cutting out sports betting and changing casino gambling to historic horse race betting. The bill kept the lottery and compact language but required the money to be split three ways between education, the General Fund and roads and bridges. The Senate version is expected to generate $350 million a year.
The Senate also moved an election on the constitutional amendment from the presidential election in November, expected to generate high turnout, to a special election in September, which would be unlikely to spark the same amount of interest.
The House can concur with the changes or send the bill to a conference committee, where a joint-chamber committee will make changes amenable to both sides.
But Albritton said Thursday that it seems doubtful.
"The House sent us up a comprehensive package that covered a great deal, and the Senate sent to them a much reduced package and with very specific instructions about potential changes that appears to have had a chilling effect on advancement," he said.
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Historically, gambling packages have passed out of the Senate but stalled in the House. Albritton said that one of the concerns in the Senate was about casinos
He said he was sports betting has also been a problem in the Senate.
Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, who supports legalized gambling, said Thursday he thinks the machines authorized by the Senate would keep gambling facilities like VictoryLand in Macon County and Greene County Entertainment in Greene County open. Greene County Entertainment uses historic horse racing machines.
"And so we've seen the technology in those machines has grown tremendously over the past years, so I think they are good enough to survive," he said. "Not casino machines, but I think so."
Rep. Sam Jones, D-Mobile, who is handling much of the gambling negotiation for House Democrats, said Thursday he could not speak to why it has not come out of the basket, saying House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, makes the decision.
"There are tremendous differences between what the House passed and what the Senate passed," he said.
Read more at AlabamaReflector.com.