A powerful tribe is gearing up to help shape the potential Alabama sports betting market.
The Poarch Creek Indians entered into a deal with Fine Geddie, a powerful lobbying firm, ahead of the 2025 legislative session, which again will likely see lawmakers consider Alabama sports betting, 1819 News first reported. The session starts Feb. 4.
A comprehensive gambling package passed the House and fell just short in the Senate following a conference committee earlier this year. Alabama is one of five states without a lottery.
Tribal interest in Alabama
While there is no commercial gambling in Alabama, the PCI has three casinos in the state.
Fine Geddie is one of the most powerful lobbying firms in Montgomery, according to 1819 News.
During the 2024 legislative session, the PCI opposed the gambling expansion legislation. It would have allowed lottery games and slot machines at racetracks and required the governor to negotiate a compact with the tribe.
Expanding reach in Alabama
This week, PCI-owned Wind Creek Hospitality announced it is acquiring the Birmingham Racecourse. The company aims to turn the track “into a premier entertainment destination in the Southeast and will continue to offer parimutuel and historical horse racing games.”
The track opened in 1987 as the Birmingham Turf Club with horse racing, and greyhound racing was added in 1992. Horse racing ended in 1995, while greyhound races ended in 2020.
Now, the facility relies on HHR machines and simulcasts.
Alabama sports betting switch up
In 2021, the Alabama Senate passed a comprehensive gambling package, only for it to fail in the House. The legislation included a state lottery, casinos and online sports betting.
Heading into the 2024 season, Sen. Greg Albritton told LSR he believed the House would craft legislation similar to what he wrote in 2022. The House did, but once it was in the Senate, the upper chamber was against portions of the legislation and stripped some of the casino language and sports betting from the bill.
“The Senate took what the House did, we modified it, changed it,” Senate President Pro-Tem Greg Reed told a Mobile radio station earlier this year. “We eliminated some casinos. We eliminated some other elements of table games and those kinds of things. The sports betting program, some of those things our members just weren’t comfortable with.”
Reed said the Senate will likely remain more conservative than the House in its gambling approach.
