Senate committee approves video gambling at dog track

Phillip Rawls

Thursday, Feb. 10, 2000 | 9:10 a.m.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The Alabama Legislature's annual battle over video gambling has officially started, and the state lottery - dead since October - may influence the outcome.

The Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee voted 4-1 Wednesday for a bill by Sen. George Clay, D-Tuskegee, that would allow video gambling at the Macon County dog track. The bill now goes to the Senate, where it could be considered as early as Tuesday.

The committee's vote was no surprise to anyone because the panel traditionally approves gambling legislation. Senators on both sides of the issue said the fight will be in the Senate, where a video gambling bill was blocked by one vote last year.

Clay said it's hard to fight opposition from both religious groups and Mississippi casinos, but "it looks pretty good."

Sen. Bill Armistead, R-Columbiana, said he expects the bill to die in the Senate because some senators who voted for Gov. Don Siegelman's lottery legislation last year are eager to get an anti-gambling vote on their record, especially after Alabama voters defeated the lottery plan Oct. 12.

Bob Gambacurta, a spokesman for several Mississippi casinos opposed to the legislation, agreed some legislators now view the lottery outcome as the public opposing any gambling expansion, but he said the vote in the Senate will be close again this year.

A video gambling bill has also been introduced for the Greene County dog track, and bills have been prepared for the tracks in Mobile County and Birmingham, industry spokesman Rick Heartsill said.

Clay's bill is different from bills introduced throughout the 1990s because it would require a referendum in Macon County on allowing skill-dependent electronic games, such as video poker and blackjack, at the VictoryLand dog track, which is 15 miles east of Montgomery. Previous bills didn't have a public vote.

Macon County officials lined up Wednesday to support the bill because, they said, the track has been a major source of revenue for the rural county and its schools and the video games would help reverse declining attendance and tax revenue.

Clay noted that the county's opportunities to raise revenue in other ways are limited because the major employers - Tuskegee University and the Veterans Administration Medical Center - have tax exemptions, as does the Tuskegee National Forest, which covers much of the land between Tuskegee and Auburn.

Dan Ireland, director of the anti-gambling Alabama Citizen Action Program, said the legislation allows Macon County to have as many referenda as it takes to legalize video gambling, but it doesn't allow the citizens to vote to remove it if they become disenchanted with it.

Voting for the bill, in addition to Clay, were Sens. Pat Lindsey, D-Butler; Charles Steele, D-Tuscaloosa; and Charles Langford, D-Montgomery. Armistead cast the lone nay vote.

Absent and not voting were Sens. George Callahan, R-Theodore; E.B. McClain, D-Brighton; Tom Butler, D-Madison; and Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia.