By Rep. Craig FordColumnist

Last week, Gov. Bentley announced that he would not include any gambling proposals in the call for a special legislative session later this year. I believe Gov. Bentley is wrong to refuse to include gambling in the call for a special session, and I will introduce a gambling bill when the legislature returns to Montgomery.
There are only two options for getting our state out of this budget crisis: either raise taxes or let the people vote on gambling. It seems the governor has chosen taxes. But nothing will happen without the legislature agreeing to it, and I don’t think too many legislators want to break their campaign promises and raise taxes.
Opponents of the lottery and expanded gambling say it is a “bad way to finance government” and that they are protecting the people and the state from the negative impacts of gambling. But their arguments ignore the reality of what is going on in Alabama.
People in Alabama gamble. They do it every day. Drive by the casinos in Atmore or Wetumpka, or the casinos in Mississippi with all those cars with Alabama license plates in the parking lots, and you can see the evidence. But right now, the gambling interests in Alabama don’t pay taxes on their profits like every other business has to do.
Alabamians also play the lottery. But instead of playing it here, where the proceeds would go to benefit our own state, they’re playing it in other states. Just a few years ago, one of Tennessee’s top-selling lottery outlets estimated that 60-65 percent of its business comes from Alabama lottery players.
Whether we like it or not, Alabamians are spending their money on gambling. State leaders have wasted millions of taxpayer dollars and thousands of hours of law enforcement’s time trying to fight gambling, but gambling still takes place in Alabama every single day.
I deeply respect Gov. Bentley, and have no doubt that he believes opposing a gambling bill is protecting the people of Alabama. But opposing a gambling bill isn’t protecting the people of Alabama. It’s protecting gambling! It’s protecting the gambling interests from competition and paying taxes on their profits, and sending millions of our dollars to other state’s to play their lotteries instead of keeping that money here in Alabama.
Leaders throughout the state and on both sides of the political aisle are starting to agree that it’s time to let the people vote! The leader of the state Senate, Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, introduced a gambling bill during the legislative session. Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, the chairman of the House Ways and Means – General Fund committee, co-sponsored one of the lottery bills that I introduced.
The time has come to let the people vote!