Cramer, Sessions differ on effect of Alabama’s video poker bills

Thursday, March 16, 2000 | 3:41 a.m.

Sessions fears it might, but Cramer doesn't think so, according to letters obtained by The Huntsville Times in a report Thursday.

Sessions, a Mobile Republican, wrote to state Sen. Jabo Waggoner and Rep. W.F. McDaniel on Feb. 28. He said that the current video poker bills "would appear, under existing federal law, to expand Indian gaming to include most, if not all, forms of casino gambling."

Cramer said in his Feb. 3 letter that he didn't think passing the local legislation would allow the Poarch Band of Creek Indians to have casino gaming. The Huntsville Democrat's letter was in response to a query from Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe.

"I am deeply concerned that the bills could lead to the vast expansion of casino-type gambling throughout Alabama," Sessions, a former Alabama attorney general, said in his letter.

Sessions said if a bill to allow video poker passes, it would strengthen an Indian tribe's argument for casino gambling. The federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act allows tribes to set up games like roulette or blackjack if they are located in a state that allows such games, including video poker.

Sessions said federal court precedents on casino gambling are fuzzy and could allow a strict interpretation of that law, meaning tribes could only conduct games that are specifically allowed. So if the state allows video poker, Indian tribes could have video poker games.

"However, the video poker bills would expressly permit all skill dependent games, not just video poker," Sessions' letter says. "Thus, if the bills pass and even if the race tracks conduct only video poker, the state's ability to argue that state law permits only one type of gambling ... would be undermined."

Cramer also acknowledged the ambiguity of the precedents in his letter, but he said he still doesn't believe a local bill would lead to a gambling explosion.

"I think that Sen. Sessions and I want the same thing, and that is to do everything we can to keep Indian casinos out of Alabama," Cramer told the newspaper. "I look forward to working with him and anyone else to make sure that Alabama law is as clear as possible on this issue."