Efforts to legalize Las Vegas-style casinos and a lottery in Alabama are off the table for next year, as the lawmaker pushing a bill says that the support isn’t there.
“I can count votes. The votes are not there at this time for the bill,” Alabama Sen. Del Marsh told AL.com. “I continue to believe gaming is an idea we should consider given the dollars it would generate for the state and the jobs it would create. But a majority of my colleagues do not agree and I am going to move on.”
According to the report, the casino industry is losing the most influential state lawmaker to ever support full-blown casino gambling in Alabama. The state found in a study that up to $400 million in taxes could be generated by casinos. The state is facing a budget shortfall of up to $700 million.
The casino bill cleared a Senate committee in August. The bill to allow four Las Vegas-style casinos at four existing dog tracks was approved by the Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee, but it didn’t use the success there to gain any real traction.
The Alabama bill wasn’t well-liked by the governor.
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley went as far as to say publicly that the bill “is one of the worst pieces of legislation” he had ever seen and that it would “make Alabama look like Las Vegas.”
There were casino discussions in neighboring Georgia this year as well. Earlier this year, MGM Resorts proposed a $1 billion casino in Atlanta and had hired lobbyists. The momentum seemed there for a possible legalization, but it was another year of disappointment for the casino industry. The proposal was opposed by Gov. Nathan Deal, but he did say he might change his stance if the tax rate was increased. He said he would want the casinos taxed as high as 35 percent, much higher than the previously proposed 12 percent.
Unlike in Alabama, Georgia lawmakers will discuss the issue again next year.
A study of the Georgia market estimated that nearly $500 million a year is being spent by Georgians in other states. The plan pushed this year indicated that up to six casinos could eventually be built.
A couple of casinos in or around Atlanta were predicted to have a $5 billion economic impact. Georgia is currently one of the least gambling friendly states in the nation, with no tribal gaming industry either.
