I was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives in 2006. I have served in the 66th District for the past 18 years and consider myself a champion for public education. While every session is different, there is one issue that almost always comes up every session: gambling.

To be clear, I am not a gamer, nor am I advocating for the expansion of gaming in Alabama. However, I am very aware that we have issues that are completely out of our control. Earlier this session, I voted in favor of HB 151 and 152, but my decision reflected my district's response to three main concerns that came up time and time again:

The first concern is that gambling already exists. It has existed for many years, and it is time to regulate and collect tax revenue from gambling that already exists in the state. In particular, there is an urgent need to put in place regulatory and enforcement guardrails to eliminate the prevalence of illegal gambling and to tax legal gambling.

Second, Alabamians, even if they're not gamers like me, want to vote on this issue. They see a lot of Alabama money going out of state. I've seen the polls, I've heard the trends in my district. This is something Alabamians want to have the opportunity to choose.

My third big concern is what Alabamians are seeing in other states: In states where Alabamians buy lottery tickets, what could a lottery do that just supports education? If there is additional money that can be dedicated to education outside of the regular education budget, then a special education budget, such as a Last Dollar Scholarship Program, can be created.

It is worth noting that Alabama and all neighboring states have successful education lotteries that bring in millions of dollars for students, and with Alabama's money flowing to surrounding states, it would be interesting to know how much money Alabamians have contributed to education in Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi and Florida over the past 20 years.

The House has done what I and many others felt was the right path by ensuring that the lottery only benefits education.

So if Alabama is going to have a lottery, it should be an education lottery — we need to shut out the illegal operators and properly regulate and tax those that remain.

Alan Baker represents parts of Baldwin and Escambia counties in the Alabama House of Representatives. He joined the Alabama House of Representatives in 2006 after 27 years in public education as a teacher and coach, winning 10 state championships (five in football and five in track and field).