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The new President of the Alabama Senate, Sen. Garlan Gudger, has expressed openness to evaluating gaming expansion proposals if any such bills are actually filed this year.
The young 2025 session has not seen any legislation on the matter after a pared-down constitutional amendment proposal nearly cleared the Alabama legislature in 2024. While issues that prevented that enactment in 2024 remain, Gudger’s comments on the subject signal that similar bills will not be dead on arrival under his leadership.
Gudger discusses gaming expansion
The Alabama Senate convened for 2025 on Feb. 6 and one of the first orders of business was to select a new leader to replace the departed Greg Reed. Reed chose not to seek reelection to fill a post in Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s istration.
The Alabama Senate chose Gudger unanimously and Gudger spoke with the press shortly beforehand according to Mike Carson of AL.com. Gudger expressed willingness to consider gaming measures.
“I think we’re leaving a lot of money on the table where it’s going to other states,” Gudger said. “That’s my personal opinion. How we handle that, as a Senate body, I’ll be doing what the majority of this body wants. So I’m going to have to look at that bill whenever it does get filed, or if it gets filed. And then from that, we’ll take it apart piece by piece and make sure it’s the right thing to do for Alabama.”
In 2024, the Alabama Senate handled the issue by nearly putting the question of gambling expansion to voters. Competing interests that ultimately prevented that package’s age are still significant in 2025.
Divergent opinions might delay gaming legislation
In 2024 and prior years, differences between competing proposals in Montgomery have centered around which forms of gaming would be authorized and who would get to offer that gambling. Debate has included whether or not to legalize sports wagering, the inclusion of commercial land-based casinos, and the potential expansion of Alabama.
The bill that saw a narrow defeat in 2024 would have given voters a choice on authorizing seven commercial physical casinos with limited gaming (electronic table games only), a state lottery, and giving the governor’s office the authority to negotiate a gaming compact with the largest tribe within Alabama’s borders, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians (PCI).
Other proposals, including one ed by the Alabama House of Representatives in 2024, would have also legalized sports wagering and given the commercial casinos more options for the types of gaming they could have offered. Objections from PCI were part of what led to the ultimate ime and show how crucial their will be to any future legislation.
Poarch Creek Band and community lobbies will be pivotal
Currently, PCI offers Class II gaming (bingo). That class of gaming does not require a compact with Alabama under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988.
To Class III gaming like poker, slots, and table games, however, a compact will be necessary. PCI has been active in pushing for legislation to facilitate those negotiations.
At the same time, several Alabama towns with commercial bingo operations are also active in lobbying the state legislature. The towns collect a share of revenues from that play and aim to protect and expand that funding.
The 2024 effort at compromise; limiting commercial operators to electronic table games while clearing the way for PCI to offer table games with live dealers, proved unacceptable to PCI. A proposal that would restrict gaming expansion to tribal interests would likely fail to receive adequate , however.
As officials and stakeholders take time to work to find a framework that all parties will find suitable, the possibility of legislation in 2025 becomes increasingly dim. After gaming expansion legislation failed in 2024, Alabama Rep. Andy Whitt told PlayUSA that he didn’t “see a pathway going forward until the Alabama Senate gets serious about solving this problem.”
Alabama Sen. Greg Albritton shared a similar sentiment, stating that, “the only thing that would bring any change, I think, is the populous and a groundswell of demand, if there is any on this topic.”
While Gudger’s comments express willingness to consider such proposals, they are still short of the momentum that Albritton and Whitt spoke of. Despite Gudger’s openness, the issue might not come up in Montgomery in 2025.
