Last night, a majority of the Senate Republican Caucus voted against legalizing and expanding Las Vegas-style casinos in the state. API is extremely grateful to each Senator who understood the negative impact their legislation would have on our state. All 15 Senators acted boldly for our state despite undue pressure. That is the quality of a statesman. The report from the pro-gambling conference committee called for further expansion and legalization of gambling, picking winners and losers from those currently breaking the law.

This year's gambling push began with advocates arguing that since illegal gambling is occurring in Alabama, the solution to the problem is to increase access to newly legalized and newly updated gambling establishments. Members argued that illegal operations would suddenly stop, even though they continue to exist in every state where gambling is legal. Note: It is illogical to think that gambling must be expanded in order to curb it.

Pro-gambling messaging shifted to how to maximize profits from the poor and those who are bad at math, and how to spend those revenues. Democrats pushed for and got language that would ensure a focus on full Medicaid expansion (a policy Republicans and limited government advocates had fought for decades). Democrats ceded voting days in exchange for further expanding the types of gambling allowed at legislatively selected locations across the state (where they currently operate illegally). Somehow, the argument once made for job creation in the Black Belt got lost in a conference agreement to play all-electronic table games at seven locations. Republican and Democratic allies argued that the lottery was actually “for the kids,” dangling the possibility of pay raises, capital projects, and scholarships as lawmakers made their decision.

API's message hasn't changed because API's beliefs haven't changed: Gambling is bad for Alabama. Gambling produces nothing; it takes money out of local economies and creates short-term entertainment and long-term addiction problems. Gambling simply redistributes the wealth of addicts to those who knowingly profit from their addiction.

The Alabama Policy Institute has three pillars on which it evaluates any public policy idea (limited government, free markets, and strong families). The current proposal to expand gambling would negatively impact all three. Expanding gambling expands government. The proposed structure surrounding the gambling establishment is unaccountable and would operate with little transparency to the public. The commission would have too much power and little accountability. It would almost certainly be a corrupt process. Furthermore, the bill would create an enforcement agency with full police powers, but only controlled by an unelected, unaccountable commission. The proposals under consideration would actually reward those who have operated illegally by making exceptions, expanding their activities, and encouraging lawlessness. Nothing is more antithetical to free market principles than a government agency picking winners and losers. Finally, the bill would harm families. Domestic violence and white-collar crime have increased as a direct result of gambling being legalized in other states. Petty crime, violent crime, and drug dealing have skyrocketed near locations where casinos are operating. Human trafficking is a serious problem in Alabama and will be exacerbated by the legalization of casinos and other forms of gambling. With increased access to gambling, rates of mental health issues, suicide attempts, and addiction all increase.

The proposals discussed on Tuesday were negotiated largely in private. Draft versions were only allowed for review, not analysis. The contents of the bill the Senate passed were secret until the last moment. A conference committee met without notice and approved the bill with little debate. Details of the bill were not published online, and many senators did not see it until the House vote. The process was far from transparent. API stands with senators who saw through the haze of gambling operators' backroom deals and aggressive lobbying. Gambling operators are just trying to make the most of other people's losses and addictions.

Stephanie Holden Smith is president and CEO of the Alabama Policy Institute.