MONTGOMERY - After weeks of bubbling under the surface, debate could boil over today in the state Senate on a plan to legalize video poker and other kinds of gambling at Vic toryLand dog track near Tuskegee, key senators said Monday.
"I'd like to get it over with as soon as possible," said the plan's sponsor, state Sen. George Clay, D-Tuskegee.
He said he will push to bring the gambling plan up for debate in the 35-member Senate as soon as he thinks he's got the votes. "I think we're close," Clay said.
Sen. Bill Armistead, R-Columbiana, a leading gambling opponent, said he expects Clay to try to pass the plan today or some day soon.
"I'm prepared for it. If it gets up, we'll settle in for a long day," said Armistead, who chairs the Senate Republican Caucus.
The Senate meets today at 2 p.m. The state House of Representatives goes in at 1 p.m.
Clay's proposed law would let VictoryLand install video poker machines and other equipment for any kind of gambling in which winning could be affected by the skill of the player.
Track owners could build a separate building on track property and install as many video machines and other gambling equipment as they want. The proposed law does not limit equipment to electronic games and does not explicitly ban human dealers for poker, blackjack or other card games.
If it passes, two similar plans to expand gambling at the Birmingham Race Course and Greenetrack near Eutaw are waiting in the wings.
The added gambling would be allowed only if Macon County voters approved in a referendum. "They'll vote yes," Clay predicted.
Supporters of the plan have launched a massive ad campaign, saying it simply would give Macon County voters the right to decide a gambling issue designed to pump more money into the local dog track and preserve 300 jobs there.
"It's a local matter. We're talking about skill-dependent gaming in Macon County, and the people in Macon County should be able to decide whether they want it in our county," Clay said.
But Armistead said a statewide vote would be fairer, since gamblers likely would be drawn from across Alabama, not just from Macon and Greene counties and Birmingham.
"It's somewhat hypocritical to say they're letting the people vote, because they're not letting all the people vote. And it's going to affect a broad spectrum of people outside these counties that have the dog tracks," he said.
Gambling supporters want to avoid a statewide election, Armistead said, because Alabama voters on Oct. 12 rejected a state lottery and likely would reject video gambling, which he called "the crack cocaine of gambling."
"A lot of gambling interests don't want to see this go to a statewide referendum, after what happened in October, because it would go down to defeat," Armistead said.
"But it would easily pass in Macon and Greene counties. That's the way they get around this. They say they want to let the people vote, but they're not willing to let all the people vote," he said.
Backed lottery
Voters in both Macon and Greene counties supported Siegelman's lottery plan by more than 2-to-1 margins, state records show, but statewide, the lottery lost by a margin of 54 percent to 46 percent.
Armistead said the video gambling bills are designed to make millions of dollars for a handful of people, including Milton McGregor, majority owner of VictoryLand and the Birmingham Race Course.
He said they unfairly would give video gambling monopolies to dog track owners.
"This is all about helping one small group of people in Alabama. It's not about helping the working people in Alabama," Armistead said.
Clay, however, has said he doesn't care if McGregor makes lots of money as long as his video gambling plan would help make sure VictoryLand, and its 300 jobs, can keep competing against casinos in Mississippi.
"It's not a question of whether or not people are going to gamble. They are going to gamble. The question is, where," Clay said.
"And the people of Macon County just want the opportunity to raise some revenue from people gambling here," he said. "We figure it's our business. It's nobody else's business but ours."
Armistead said expanding gambling options in Macon County would draw bettors from all over Alabama. "It's going to have a negative impact on the surrounding counties," he said.
Plan includes video poker
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