During busy last day of session, Clouse doubts gaming discussion will emerge

A bill that would establish a state lottery and authorize nine casinos, including one at Houston County’s Crossing at Big Creek and sites owned by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, stalled in the House last week after partisan disagreements over revenue distribution and the selection of sites that would be allowed to operate.

That bill faced opposition from a mix of Republicans opposed to legalized gambling and lawmakers arguing the bill picks winners and losers by naming casino locations. Some opponents argued it is unfair to exclude existing electronic bingo locations in Greene and Lowndes counties operating under current constitutional amendments.

Although Rep. Steve Clouse, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee from Ozark, supports the gaming bill the way it was written when the Senate first advanced the bill to the House for consideration, he doubts the legislation will pass or even be a topic of discussion on the last day of the legislative session Monday.

“I think the parties are too far apart,” Clouse said. “I just think there’s too much conflict at this point for it to be discussed and passed on the last day.”

Clouse, who introduced a lottery-only bill in the 2020 legislative session, said he wished a straight lottery bill would have been introduced since the lottery has more bipartisan support. However, he believes the gambling study commissioned by Gov. Kay Ivey’s office “threw cold water” on the idea of a separate lottery bill as more interest emerged to include casinos in a constitutional amendment.

On a hopeful note, he said he’s seen more support of the establishment of a state lottery among fellow legislators this year and the general public.

On Monday, he said the House must focus on passing the General Fund budget.

“There’s a lot of other bills besides the gambling bill that need to be looked at because of the shortened session, so I hope that we can get to all these other pieces of legislation,” Clouse said.

He added he believes the legislature will convene again this year for special sessions to deal with prison issues and redistricting of legislative and state school board districts once the U.S. Census Bureau releases official census numbers.

Two banks recently pulled out of financing agreements with the state to pay for building several new private prisons. Clouse believes legislators will consider approving a bond issue to fund the construction during a special session.

As far as gambling legislation, Clouse does not believe it will be discussed again until next year during the 2022 legislative session.