The Alabama House of Representatives on Thursday passed a motion of no consent to the Senate gambling bill, sending it to a six-member conference committee. House Speaker Nathaniel Leadbetter appointed three state Reps. Andy Witt (R-Harvest), Chris Blackshear (R-Phenix City) and Sam Jones (D-Mobile) to serve as House members.

“From the beginning, the House omnibus bill had three primary goals,” Rep. Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) said Thursday, “to eliminate illegal gambling operations in Alabama, to create a framework for taxing and regulating facilities licensed through an open bidding process, and to establish a lottery that would exclusively benefit education.”

On Thursday afternoon, Alabama Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Reed (R-Jasper) came out in support of the changes the Senate made.

“The Alabama Senate is proud to have passed legislation that will ban unregulated gambling, shut down illegal casinos, and allow Alabamians to vote in our statewide paper lottery,” said Senator Reed (R-Jasper). “Our priorities are putting the bad actors who are illegally operating gambling establishments in Alabama out of business and allowing Alabamians to vote at the ballot box in our statewide paper lottery.”

“Our bill achieves that goal,” Reed said.

The House passed a bill that would allow up to 10 Class III casinos in the state, with slot machines, table games, pari-mutuel betting, sports betting, electronic bingo, etc. A new state agency with enforcement powers would be created to regulate gambling in Alabama and close all illegal gambling operations in the state after 2027.

RELATED: Alabama Legislature pushes for legal gambling, education lottery, statewide voting

The bill proposes specific counties where casinos could be located, allows the Alabama Governor to enter into a compact with the Poarch Band of Creeks (PCI), a federally recognized Native American tribe in Alabama, and proposes placing an issue to amend the Alabama Constitution to legalize gambling for the first time since 1999 on the November 2024 general election ballot.

We now know that the proposal was perceived as far too ambitious in the Senate, which introduced the bill as an alternative in committee and then amended it eight times in the full House to remove any form of gambling from the Senate floor.

“The House bill would create a lot of opportunity for our state at an estimated $1.2 billion per year,” Rep. Andy Witt said in opposition Thursday.

“Lottery revenues alone would enable thousands of Alabama students to attend community college and strengthen the safety of our K-12 schools. Simply put, the Senate plan wastes nearly $800 million. I look forward to finding a solution in conference.”

The Senate bill banned electronic bingo, sports betting, and all forms of online gambling. The bill allowed the Governor to enter into an agreement with PCI to create a lottery and allow existing facilities to offer historic horse racing machines and pari-mutuel betting. It also created the Alabama Gaming Commission along with law enforcement officials, but moved the referendum from the November general election to a September special referendum.

RELATED: Alabama Senate passes softened version of gambling bill

Rep. Chris Blackshear (R-Phenix City) introduced HB151 and HB152, a constitutional amendment and implementing bill.

“This bill has been more than 14 months in the making, and it is the first comprehensive gambling plan ever passed by the Alabama House of Representatives,” Rep. Blackshear said. “We worked carefully to address every aspect of this issue, and I truly feel that the final House version is what people want to vote on.”

“I have serious concerns about the Senate's alternative bill,” Blackshear said. “It rewards operators who have operated illegally for decades by awarding licenses without a public bidding process, uses lottery revenues for non-education expenses, and fails to adequately regulate sports betting, which is one of the most common forms of illegal gambling in Alabama.”

Leadbetter said Alabamians want to vote on the issue this year.

“One thing has been made clear throughout this process: Alabamians want and deserve the opportunity to vote on this issue,” the speaker said. “I am hopeful that members of the House and Senate can find a compromise that allows us to do just that.”

Grayson Everett is the state and politics editor for Yellow Hammer News. You can follow him on Twitter. Grayson