Alabama House Passes Sweeping Sports Betting and Gambling Bills

Thursday's votes bring Alabama closer to joining the other 38 states that have authorized sports betting, including several neighbors.

Geoff Zochodne - Senior News Analyst at Covers.com
Geoff Zochodne • Senior News Analyst
Feb 15, 2024 • 14:35 ET • 3 min read
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The Alabama House of Representatives has given its blessing to a pair of bills that would bring legal sports betting — and much more — to the Heart of Dixie.

House Bill 151 and House Bill 152 were passed Thursday by the full Alabama House by votes of 70-32 and 67-31 (plus one abstention) in favor, respectively. 

The bills provide for a new state lottery, additional casinos, and, yes sports betting in Alabama, among other things. 

According to one of its sponsors, the bills are trying to address the existing illegal gambling already happening in the state and to smooth over other gaming-related issues, which could include people already betting with offshore sites. 

There were also more than 35,000 geolocation checks from devices in Alabama trying to access legal online sportsbooks during this past Super Bowl weekend, reported GeoComply Solutions Inc., a technology company that helps determine the location of bettors. That suggests interest in Alabama in legal online sports betting.

“They say in a lot of movies … ‘Houston, we have a problem,’” Republican Rep. Chris Blackshear told the House. “But I'm here to stand before you today and say Alabama, we have a problem, and today's our opportunity to take one big step forward in fixing that problem.”

Rolling tide of legalization

Thursday’s votes mean the legislation, which proposes a massive expansion of gambling in the state, is on its way to the Alabama Senate for further scrutiny and possible passage. It also brings Alabama closer to joining the other 38 states that have authorized sports betting, including several neighbors.

H.B. 151 proposes an amendment to the state constitution (and therefore requires the support of three-fifths of legislators) that, if also approved by voters in November, would authorize a state lottery, additional casinos, sports wagering, raffles, and bingo. 

Its counterpart, H.B. 152, provides more detail about Alabama’s proposed gambling expansion, including the potential to license multiple sportsbook operators for in-person and online wagering. 

According to the latter bill, casinos could have brick-and-mortar sportsbooks and operators such as DraftKings and FanDuel could apply for online sports betting licenses with still-to-be-determined fees. Talladega Superspeedway could also apply for a temporary permit for in-person sports betting during its race weekends. 

Both bills were tweaked by the House of Representatives' economic development and tourism committee on Wednesday. Those changes were approved by the whole House on Thursday. 

The most substantive sports betting amendment was ensuring the 10% of sports wagering revenue generated (via a 17% tax) that is earmarked for each of the state's sheriff's departments is given to those departments. 

H.B. 152 also now states that the sports wagering proceeds for law enforcement must be in addition to other funding from the county commissions and not replacing existing funding sources for the sheriffs.

Thursday's passage by the House came after lengthy and sometimes tedious discussion of two bills, including several mentions of former Alabama football coach Nick Saban.

Ultimately, though, enough representatives agreed to ensure safe passage of the bills.

"I think we took a big step forward today to correcting some of the wrongs in the state of Alabama," Blackshear said.

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Geoff Zochodne, Covers Sports Betting Journalist
Senior News Analyst

Geoff has been writing about the legalization and regulation of sports betting in Canada and the United States for more than three years. His work has included coverage of launches in New York, Ohio, and Ontario, numerous court proceedings, and the decriminalization of single-game wagering by Canadian lawmakers. As an expert on the growing online gambling industry in North America, Geoff has appeared on and been cited by publications and networks such as Axios, TSN Radio, and VSiN. Prior to joining Covers, he spent 10 years as a journalist reporting on business and politics, including a stint at the Ontario legislature. More recently, Geoff’s work has focused on the pending launch of a competitive iGaming market in Alberta, the evolution of major companies within the gambling industry, and efforts by U.S. state regulators to rein in offshore activity and college player prop betting.

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