Alabama legislators plan Wednesday meeting on gambling bill

A person sits at the slot machines on the casino floor at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino on May 25, 2021 in Tampa, Florida. An Alabama Senate committee held a hearing on gambling bills Wednesday with little public notice. (Octavio Jones/Getty Images)

Alabama legislators plan to hold a meeting Wednesday on a proposed gambling package that has divided the House and Senate. 

Three members of a conference committee assigned to resolve differences between the chambers over the package said in separate interviews Tuesday that they held a meeting on the bill on Monday. 

The House version, passed in February, included a lottery and authorized up to seven casinos and sports betting around the state. It also directed the governor to enter a compact with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, a federally-recognized tribe that runs casinos in Atmore, Montgomery and Wetumpka.  

The Senate version, passed last month, stripped out everything but the compact and the lottery. The House and Senate also differed on disbursement of revenues and the date of the election on an amendment authorizing gambling. 

The Senate conferees are Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore; Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro; and Sen. Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman. The House conferees are Sam Jones, D-Mobile; Rep. Chris Blackshear, R-Smiths Station; and Rep. Andy Whitt, R-Harvest.

Singleton and Albritton are longtime proponents of gambling legislation. Whitt and Blackshear developed the original House legislation.

Gudger, Albritton and Whitt said there was a meeting of some members on Monday and that they plan to have a public meeting Wednesday. As of mid-Tuesday afternoon, it had not been publicly announced on the Legislature’s website.

In separate interviews, Gudger and Albritton declined to share who was present at the Monday meeting.

“I’m only accountable for myself,” said Albritton. “I’m not going to snitch.” 

Albritton said he was not sure if everyone was invited to the Monday meeting.

Singleton said, if there was a meeting Monday, he was not invited.

“If they’ve been meeting without me, I’m going to get on somebody but– I don’t like that,” he said. 

There also seem to be disagreement over the level of agreement.

Gudger said there was more common ground than expected. Whitt said the conferees are “working through the process.”

Albritton said there was very little agreement.

“Not much, no, I don’t think so,” he said. “There’s trying to do a Venn diagram on what is and what isn’t. Every time you get those balloons, they bounce off each other.”

Alander Rocha contributed to this report.

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