Video gambling at Alabama dog tracks has strong opposition

Phillip Rawls

Monday, Jan. 31, 2000 | 9:08 a.m.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Alabama's dog tracks are trying again to get legislative approval to add video gambling, but they face significant opposition from lawmakers who saw Alabama voters overwhelmingly reject a state lottery four months ago.

"Any senator who votes for gambling after the people rejected gambling last October is going to do so at his or her risk," Lt. Gov. Steve Windom said.

Throughout the '90s, Alabama's four dog tracks pushed bills that would allow them all to add skill-dependent video gambling, such as video poker and blackjack. The bills all died - sometimes by as little as one vote.

For the new century, the dog tracks are taking a new approach. Each track is coming up with its own bill that applies only to it. Each bill will allow video games only if approved in a public referendum in the area where the track is located.

That would mean separate votes in Greene, Macon and Mobile counties and in Birmingham.

That's a major change that the tracks hope will boost support, said Rick Heartsill, a spokesman for Alabama's dog track industry.

By using a separate bill for each track - an approach known as "local bills" - the tracks are hopeful that legislators from other counties won't vote. Traditionally, legislators don't vote on "local bills" that don't affect their own counties.

"Local legislation is very sacred, and I think at the end of the day legislators are going to be reluctant to get involved, especially when it has a local referendum," Heartsill said.

But a survey of Alabama legislators by The Associated Press showed significant opposition. Eighty-two percent of the legislators responded, with 12 percent of the House and 27 percent of the Senate supporting the bills; 49 percent of the House and 45 percent of the Senate opposed; 23 percent of the House and 12 percent of the Senate saying they consider these local bills and don't plan to vote; and 16 percent of the House and 15 percent of the Senate undecided.

A gambling opponent, state Sen. Steve French, R-Birmingham, said dog tracks aren't "local" issues because they have to draw customers from many counties to survive.

Also, he said some senators who voted for Gov. Don Siegelman's lottery plan last year are itching to vote against the video gambling bills. After Alabama voters rejected the lottery in the Oct. 12 referendum, legislators who supported the lottery want to make sure they have some anti-gambling votes on their records before the next legislative elections in 2002, he said.

The group that led the fight against a lottery, Citizens Against Legalized Lottery, has reorganized as Citizens for a Better Alabama and is fighting video gambling. The group is also pushing a constitutional amendment that would ban the expansion of gambling in Alabama.

"I am very excited about the day when our legislators will no longer be distracted by the gambling industry, and will be able to focus on the issues that face our state," Chairman Jim Cooper said.

Proponents of video gambling present it as an economic issue. Rep. John Rogers, D-Birmingham, said the tracks were once major sources of jobs and tax revenue, but they need new attractions to draw customers back who have been lured away by Mississippi casinos, illegal video gambling in bars and convenience stores, and the new video games popping up all over Alabama that pay off in gift certificates.

"They need it because it's a ghost town out there," Rogers said.

It's not quite that dramatic, but there's no question business is down, forcing layoffs by the tracks as well as city and county governments that depended on the tax revenue.

VictoryLand, which was once one of the biggest dog tracks in the country and the largest private business in Macon County, peaked in 1990 with 1.1 million customers and $176 million in bets. Last year, it had 305,000 customers and $85 million in bets, Heartsill said.