When a group of pastors in Walker County welcomed the Christian Coalition of Alabama as a participant in a press conference opposing electronic gambling, the pastors never expected to find themselves wishing they had clarified what opposition meant.
But after Randy Brinson, chairman of CCA, finished stating why to oppose electronic gambling in Walker County, he advocated legalizing electronic gambling at two racetracks in the state.
And that has been his stance wherever he goes. Brinson, a Montgomery physician, is sending e-mails and mail-outs urging Alabamians to support House Bill 577, which would legalize electronic gambling at Milton McGregor’s Birmingham Race Course and the Mobile Greyhound Park while making it illegal anywhere else in the state except Lowndes County.
Brinson’s rallying cry is that legalizing electronic gambling this way will save the state’s Medicaid program, claiming $172 million a year in funding, but the bill sponsor and other supporters have only said $55 million would be raised. And this amount is not guaranteed nor clearly marked, said Dan Ireland, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP).
The bill states 20 percent of profits would go to Medicaid, but 1 percent of that would go to the state revenue department for its work and 5 percent would go to the racing commissions at each location, Ireland said. "So that leaves 14 percent if there’s really any of it left to be applied to Medicaid."
Noting that Gov. Bob Riley has a budget proposal that will take care of Medicaid clients in the state, Ireland pointed out that tying a gambling bill to something like Medicaid is the same old trick used year after year by the gambling industry. "This is nothing but a ploy to get what they want in the form of gambling," he said. "A few years ago, it was attached to school textbooks and they acted like we had to have [electronic gambling] to improve our educational situation. Yet our reading initiatives are improving, we’ve won national acclaim and we didn’t have to have gambling to do it."
"[The gambling industry and those working for it] will always tie their gambling bills to a heart-string issue," Ireland said. "You can call it ‘bingo for Medicaid,’ but one of the things you better remember is that the money is coming out of the pockets of losers and this will enlarge the number of recipients of Medicaid."
Noting he is being asked lots of questions about the difference between the stance CCA has taken compared to ALCAP, Ireland said, "There is a lot of confusion in the Legislature and with the general public. Lots of legislators have asked me why the Christian Coalition of Alabama would endorse gambling, especially with Christian in its name," he said. "I think it sends a mixed signal to the faith community using that name and then promoting a gambling bill in the Legislature.
"I don’t know where it is coming from or where it is headed," Ireland noted. "It is not the Christian Coalition of a few years ago. It did not oppose gambling in one place and endorse it in another place. It opposed gambling across the board."
And that is ALCAP’s stance.
"Sin and gambling have always been wrong. You cannot change the definition and make it right," Ireland said. "If gambling is wrong, it is wrong."
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