Alabama residents who held out hope for a state regulated lottery are unfortunately out of luck, with the Alabama Legislature failing to give the lottery bill passage through the house.
House Ways and Means General Fund chair Steve Clouse confirming that the lottery bill is dead in the water by stating: “It’s dead for this session. It won’t be coming back this session.”
It is nearly two decades since a form of lottery bill has attempted to get passed in Alabama, but once again it’s passage through the house has been thwarted. As it stands Alabama is the one of only a handful of states that do not have a state lottery. The others being Utah, Nevada, Hawaii and Alaska.
According to the House Speaker Mac McCutcheon, “There were only 47 Republicans who appeared to be firm yes votes on the lottery. The lottery, which requires a constitutional amendment, needs 63 votes to win approval.”
The failure of passing the lottery bill in the state means that individuals that reside in Alabama are unable to buy tickets for national lotteries such as the ‘Powerball’. Unless of course residents cross state lines, which with the PowerBall jackpot often reaching mind boggling amounts is not unheard of.
Let’s see if there is a further attempt in 2020 to pass some form of lottery legislation in Alabama.
