News

Tuesday, 06 April 2010 07:26

A new gambling bill that sets out to legalize, regulate and tax certain forms of gambling has, despite opposition passed through the Alabama State Senate.

There was a great deal of criticism from the Alabama Senate Republicans that the proposed gambling bill would call a halt to illegal gambling raids by their task force. The same legislation is designed to regulate and take taxation from the gambling industry active in the state and is aimed mainly at bingo operators.

Despite indications from those Senate Republicans that the legislation could not be pushed through due to time constraints and other more pressing that required delving into, the bill still managed to somehow pass through the Alabama Senate. That legislation attracted 21 votes of "yes" which was the required number, against 13 "no" votes to amend the part of the constitution for Alabama that it is targeting.

Even though the bill has passed through Senate, it still has a long way to go before it becomes law. It needs House approval for starters and then it must be put to a vote and gain approval from the state's voters in November. There is every likelihood Governor Riley will oppose this legislation and take steps to stop it from passing. The Governor has already stated that he believes the bill is one of the most corrupt legislation that has ever been considered by Senate.

The bill is set out so that there will no longer be any stipulation as to the locations of any of the bingo halls. Instead, the bingo hall locations are to be decided during a special session to be held in January 2011. As for taxation, 25 percent will be levied as tax on revenue that is left over after the gambling halls have paid out the winners. To regulate this, the establishment of a gambling commission is planned.

Initial draft estimates predict that the tax revenue that can be generated via a regulated and legal gambling industry could exceed $150million dollars. A parallel can be drawn from this case and that currently being played out at federal level whereby vast amounts of tax revenues can potentially be generated by a legalization and regulation of the gambling industry. It just needs those members of congress who are largely ignoring it to take it more seriously tan they currently do.