Legislation calling for the expansion of gambling in Alabama landed in the State House March 2 and is moving at high speed.
Proponents of legislation calling for a state constitutional amendment that would allow all dog tracks to offer high stakes bingo believe it’s a logical solution to the lack of textbook funding in Alabama. Opponents of the legislation believe it’s simply a thinly veiled attempt to fling open the door to full fledged gambling across the state.
“It’s just another gambling bill with just another reason to pass it,” said Rep. Arthur Payne, R-Trussville.
“They’re using books this time instead of something else. We’ve had gambling bills every year since I’ve been down here and we’re going to fight this one like we always do,” Payne said.
“Bingo for Books,” as the proposed legislation is called, was introduced in the House and Senate March 2. The bill — SB 381, sponsored by Sen. Gerald Dial, D-Lineville — was approved the next day by the Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee with a voice vote. As of March 5, the House version of the bill — HB 537, sponsored by Rep. Yvonne Kennedy, D-Mobile — was still in committee.
The speed with which the Senate version of the bill moved concerned Dan Ireland, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP). “If the dog tracks were greased as liberally as this legislation, the dogs would be in the next county before they could round them up,” he said.
If the bill passes the Legislature, it will appear on the Nov. 2 ballot for a vote of the people.
The bill proposes a 10 percent state tax on the net revenue of bingo in electronic or card formats but does not allow for slot machines or video poker.
According to Dial, a constitutional amendment resulting from this bill would raise an estimated $50 million a year for textbooks, technology and other classroom materials.
“It takes about $50 million a year to keep our textbooks updated,” said Dial, a deacon of First Baptist Church, Lineville. “It’s just ridiculous that we don’t have enough updated textbooks. We owe our kids better than that.”
But according to Ireland, state revenue has grown to the point where next year’s educational trust fund budget will provide ample money for textbooks and other teaching aids without the bingo legislation.
“The educational trust fund is not in any kind of danger,” he said. “There’s going to be plenty of money to fund education in Alabama. When you want a gambling bill passed, you hide either behind education or the elderly. Those are just selling points. I see this as a stepping stone to wide open gambling in Alabama and so do others I’ve talked to.”
Dial disagreed with Ireland’s projection and explained that the bill would simply allow dog tracks the same privileges enjoyed by existing Indian gambling establishments in Alabama.
The Poarch Indians, he noted, already have gambling halls in Atmore, Wetumpka and Montgomery, but they fall under federal jurisdiction and are, therefore, not taxable by the state.
“We’re just going to let the tracks have exactly what the Indians have,” Dial explained. “I can’t understand the mind-set of these people who say it’s going to spread gambling. We’ve got gambling. We’re just trying to capture the tax from it. We’ve taken this bill and very closely defined it as to Class II gaming as defined by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act by Congress which says they can do bingo — bingo and bingo alone,” he continued.
“Our bill says if Congress changes the law and the Indians can no longer have bingo, then the tracks can no longer have bingo,” Dial said.
Bingo offered already
Dial also cited a loss of potential revenue from the dog tracks in Macon and Greene counties that already offer bingo. Voters in those counties last year approved constitutional amendments to allow bingo gambling for charity in those two counties, but they are currently not required to pay taxes on the revenue.
While some are debating the tax issue, Ireland added that the legality of the type of bingo taking place in Macon and Greene counties is questionable. He has asked the attorney general’s office for an opinion on whether the bingo operations are within the parameters of the law.
Still, a statewide constitutional amendment, said Ireland, could have dire consequences for Alabama as a whole.
“This would legalize what the Indians are already doing, which is contrary to our law, and give them the liberty to multiply their operations all over the state without anybody giving them a license or taxing them or regulating them because they’re under federal jurisdiction,” he said.
“One of the fears I have is that if this happens, it would open up a Pandora’s box for other types of gambling. Rather than ‘Bingo for Books,’ it sounds like ‘Bingo for Bookies’ to me.”
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