Lottery Bill Clears First Hurdle

A lottery proposal has cleared its first hurdle in the Alabama Legislature.

The Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee on Tuesday voted 6-5 to advance the bill by Republican Sen. Greg Albritton of Atmore.

The approved bill specifies that a lottery would be played with a paper tickets. Albritton said that is what most people think of when they envision a lottery. It would prevent electronic gaming terminals from being placed across the state.

The bill could go before the full Alabama Senate as soon as Thursday.

The committee did not vote on a rival lottery bill proposed by Sen. Jim McClendon that would also allow video lottery terminals at state dog tracks.

Sen. Bobby Singleton added an amendment aimed at protecting the tracks’ current bingo operations.

Alabama is one of five states without a state lottery.

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