State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine) believes too many lawmakers are missing the message when it comes to gambling bills being debated in the state Legislature.

Last week, the Alabama House of Representatives passed a motion of no consent to the Senate's gambling alternative bill, sending the gambling bill to a six-member conference committee.

On WVNN's “The Dale Jackson Show” on Tuesday, Elliott argued that the majority of Alabamians aren't interested in legalizing gambling, but they do want a state lottery.

“The public wants a lottery. I mean, that's basically what the public wants,” Elliott said. “They don't want anything more. It doesn't matter to them to focus on the political differences between the House and Senate versions and why this passed and why that didn't. They just want to be able to vote on the lottery.”

The senator said he doesn't believe most of his Senate colleagues would support passing a broader gambling bill.

“Unfortunately, I think what the Senate passed was everything the Senate was trying to pass,” he said. “I continue to hear from my colleagues in the House that they won't compromise on this, they won't compromise on that. And unfortunately, if that's the position, I don't see a path forward for the conference committee report, which contains things that are unacceptable to some senators. I don't see a path forward.”

The Senate gambling bill differs significantly from the House-approved version in that it bans electronic bingo and does not address Class III casinos, sports betting or any form of electronic gambling.

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Elliott said he was pessimistic about the bill's future.

“I don't think this bill is going to pass,” he lamented. “That's why I'm a little frustrated that the House voted down the changes that the Senate made in the House bill, because this bill would have fulfilled two of the House's goals: to allow the public to vote on the lottery and to strictly regulate illegal gambling. And that was in the Senate bill. It wasn't everything, but it was certainly something. And I'm worried that we're going to end up getting nothing done.”

He stressed that for the committee to have any chance of passing the bill this year, it needs to come up with a bill that is fairly similar to what the Senate has already passed.

“I'm not sure there's anything we can do to get senators to vote in favor of it,” he said. “The committee may come out with something much larger and more comprehensive than what the Senate passed, depending on how the committee is structured and who the committee members are appointed to, but it still has to pass. So whatever comes out of the committee, if it's different from what the Senate passed, it's pretty unlikely to pass.”

House Speaker Nathaniel Leadbetter appointed state Rep. Andy Witt (R-Harvest), state Rep. Chris Blackshear (R-Phenix City) and state Rep. Sam Jones (D-Mobile) as the three House members to the committee. The Senate did not announce the committee members before adjourning on April 4.

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