Alabama lottery bills show progress signs

According to the Senator that filed the bills, they should have hearings after spring break.

US.- While a majority of states in the US are rushing to legalise sports betting and online gambling, there are others that are still trying to approve a state lottery. This is the case of Alabama, where the Senator who introduced legislation that would legalise it confirms that it’s gaining traction.

Alabama Senator Jim McClendon filed a legislation to legalise a lottery in the state last week. He confirmed to WKRG that the bills have been assigned to the tourism committee and should have hearings sometime after the spring break.

McClndon said that he is optimistic that this could be the year that Alabama finally has a lottery because the composition of the House and Senate has changed since 2016, when another of his bills failed to gain approval.

”We’ve got new members – about 25% – and some of the people they replaced were adamantly opposed to anything that reeked of anything like gambling,” said McClendon via a phone interview with WKRG.

McClendon said that his proposal doesn’t aim to solve budget problems. The net revenue from it would go to the Education Trust Fund and the General Fund. As the local constitution currently prohibits lotteries, the proposal would have to receive the green light in a constitutional amendment.

The bill creates a commission

The bill sets an Alabama Lottery Commission, and the governor would appoint one member. The lieutenant governor, president pro tem of the Senate and Speaker of the House would name the other member. Furthermore, the commission would set which lottery games are played, but casino games would not be allowed.