Some Alabama legislators recently stepped to the forefront in another hard-fought battle in the war in gambling.
Legislation allowing the Birmingham Race Course to expand its simulcast races to Sunday made its way to the top of the House of Representative’s special order calendar May 15. Simulcasting brings races from across the country to a venue by way of closed circuit TV.
“The immediate goal of House Bill (HB) 161 is to open up the Birmingham track (for Sunday simulcast betting), but the bill is comprehensive to give all tracks in Alabama the authority to make all of their decisions, such as deciding when to be open, even if that’s 24/7,” said Eric Johnston, attorney for Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP).
Would expand gambling
“A great danger of the bill would be that each racing commission for each track would have ‘plenary’ authority, and it would apply to any new tracks that opened,” he said. “It would mean the commissions would have carte blanche- unlimited authority,” Johnston said.
The only exception would be that these commissions could not violate local liquor laws, he noted.
Some legislators from Jefferson County succeeded in having the bill brought up by special order from the rules committee twice in May during the regular 2003 legislative session, according to Rep. Richard Laird, 37th district, representing Chambers, Clay and Randolph counties.
But Laird and Rep. Arthur Payne, 44th district, representing Jefferson County, succeeded in rallying support to block it.
Keeping the faith
“We were working the floor very hard to make sure we could prevent it from coming up,” Laird said.
“I appreciate representatives Arthur Payne and Richard Laird taking leadership on the floor to stop the bill,” said Dan Ireland, executive director of ALCAP. “It was carried over, which means it is still viable during the regular session, but bills on the regular session calendar cannot be considered during the special session.”
Still, the bill’s opponents are keeping their guards up based on strong moral principles.
“First of all, gambling over all brings a lot damage and harm to the citizens of our state,” Laird said. “It’s a degradation of the moral fiber of our state and nation. Gambling of any sort has always been frowned on by our society. We know of people who have lost their entire life savings and worse,” Laird said.
While the Birmingham Race Course was the first track in Alabama to have simulcasting at all, it reportedly is the only one of the state’s four tracks without the option of Sunday simulcasting.
The other three tracks are VictoryLand Greyhound Racing at Shorter in Macon County, Mobile Greyhound Park in Mobile and Greenetrack at Eutaw.
“They are trying to amend that law to allow [Sunday simulcast at the Birmingham track], and that does not require a vote of the people, but it does of the Legislature,” Laird explained.
“One of the big complaints we have is that people voted to have what they have now in Birmingham, and now they (supporters of the bill) are trying to change the game plan contrary to what the people have voted on,” Ireland said, noting simulcasting at the Birmingham Race Course was not in the original legislation allowing for the race track.
Though Laird, Payne and other legislators have been successful in quieting the bill for now, they do not plan to let their guards down.
(TAB)
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