Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall criticized both gambling bills currently before a conference committee in the Alabama General Assembly.

The House and Senate conference committees negotiating a package of gambling bills are meeting this week.

The Senate appointed State Sen. Gregg Albritton (R-Atmore), State Sen. Garlan Guger (R-Culman) and State Sen. Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro) to the conference committee last Tuesday after the House appointed State Rep. Chris Blackshear (R-Phenix City), State Rep. Andy Witt (R-Madison) and State Rep. Sam Jones (D-Mobile) to the committee earlier.

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Marshall recently discussed gambling laws. Talk 99.5.

“I think it's been a long time coming to be able to increase misdemeanor penalties to felonies,” Marshall said. “That's one of the reasons why you see individuals take steps to start operating illegally because they feel there are no consequences. Do I think we need a statewide gaming commission and a separate law enforcement agency to enforce it? No. They're letting local law enforcement do their jobs, and prosecutors have the capacity to enforce it. It's just a matter of people who are sworn to enforce the law doing the job they're required to do.”

When asked whether he would support the Senate or House version of the gambling bill, Marshall responded, “No, absolutely not. I would have voted against both.”

Yaffe is a contributing writer for Yellow Hammer News and hosts “The Yaffe Program” weekdays from 9-11 a.m. WhistlerYou can follow us on Twitter @Yaffe