Posted on: November 20, 2024, 10:48h.
Last updated on: November 20, 2024, 11:02h.
The odds of Alabama ending its prohibition of nearly all forms of commercial gambling might have improved this week with the Poach Band of Creek Indians agreeing to purchase the Birmingham Racecourse.
During recent legislative sessions, Alabama lawmakers have failed to find a middle ground on how to go about legalizing certain forms of gambling in the state.
Alabama remains among the most limited gaming states, with charitable gaming, parimutuel wagering, and Class II tribal gaming being the exceptions. Alabama has no lottery, commercial casinos, sports betting, or Class III tribal casinos featuring Las Vegas-style slot machines and table games.
Earlier this year, a gaming package compromise reached by a special legislative committee suggested lawmakers allow state voters to decide whether to authorize a state-run lottery and slot machines at horse and/or greyhound racetracks, regardless of whether they still conduct live racing. The package additionally sought to allow the Poarch Indians’ three Class II electronic bingo-based casinos in Atmore, Montgomery, and Wetumpka to become Class III casinos with Las Vegas-like slots and live dealer games.
The gaming package fell a vote short in the state Senate after passing the House. However, it’s largely expected that new gaming legislation will be introduced during the 2025 session.
2025 Compromise?
State Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Atmore), a steadfast gaming proponent, was the deciding vote against the 2024 Alabama gaming bill.
Albritton, who sat on the six-member special conference committee that struck the gaming deal, said he was overruled in wanting more gaming concessions made available for the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. Specifically, Albritton said he wanted to allow the state’s only federally recognized tribe to pursue a fourth casino property in the northern part of the state.
The Poarch Indians’ Wind Creek Hospitality is slated to complete its acquisition of the Birmingham Racecourse early next year. The facility hasn’t conducted live racing since 2020 but remains open for simulcast parimutuel wagering. The racino also offers about 300 historical horse racing (HHR) machines.
The tribe’s purchase of the racecourse and HHR facility provides Wind Creek with a gaming property in the northern part of Alabama. Birmingham is Alabama’s second most populated city with about 200K residents. Huntsville, about 100 miles north of Birmingham, is the most populated with roughly a quarter-million residents.
Acquiring the Birmingham property, many political pundits in Montgomery believe, could get the powerful tribe behind the 2024 compromise since it would be allowed to operate slot machines in Jefferson County. Since the Birmingham Racecourse is the only state-licensed parimutuel wagering location north of Montgomery, the tribe would gain a monopoly on slots in northern Alabama.
Voters Would Have Final Say
Only Alabama voters possess the authority to end the state’s commercial gaming prohibition. If Albritton had backed the 2024 gaming package, voters would have been asked if they wished to amend the Alabama Constitution to permit such gaming.
A legislatively-referred referendum requires three-fifths support in the state House and Senate. If a gaming measure reaches the ballot, only a simple majority is needed for the referendum to pass.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) is among the most outspoken proponents of the state becoming home to slot machines and Class III tribal casinos. The 80-year-old conservative in her second four-year term says regulated gambling would hurt the underground, illegal gambling market and provide new tax revenue for the state.