Alabama senator aims to set up a lottery
The legislator is set to introduce a bill that would pave the way for a state lottery.
US.- Alabama Senator Jim McClendon announced this week that he will introduce legislation that would legalise a lottery in the state. The lawmaker had already presented a lottery legislation in 2016 but failed to gain approval.
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 people of Alabama have convinced me, the people in my district, that they would like to be able to buy a lottery ticket without having to drive to another state,” McClendon said, as Lottery Post informed. “They’d like to be able to buy a lottery ticket just like folks in 45 states across our nation can do.”
The Senator added that he would rather include the question on the ballot for the presidential primary in March 2020. He said that the state expects a large number of voters to participate in it.
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.
“I feel that this bill is much more likely to meet success than ones we’ve had in the past. I’ve talked to quite a few of our new legislators and they don’t have some of this built-in prejudice that some of our other legislators had. I feel pretty good about it,” said McClendon.
