The Mobile Greyhound Park, one of two dog tracks left in Alabama, stands to gain more business if a gambling bill expected in the state legislature is passed. The decades-old pari-mutuel is owned by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians and one of four in the state that are being targeted for gambling expansions.
The bill would allow track operators to introduce casino-style games to consumers I'm a state that has maintained a taught relationship with any vice. Not all are on board with the plan that's expected to be introduced by Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh on Tuesday.
This week Marsh released a study that projected the state could generate as much as $492 million in gambling revenue at the pari-mutuels if table games and slot machines were installed.
The track, built in 1973 when lawmakers first welcomed dog racing into the state, has seen better days. The assessment of the gambling industry conducted by the Auburn University at Montgomery estimated that with higher-stakes gambling the dog track could pull in $101 million in revenue.
But the tribe is hesitant to go that far at the track, a spokesperson said, fearing it may curtail profits at its more high-profile Wind Creek Casino and Hotel less than 70 miles away in Atmore.
"One of the things the tribe would seriously have to consider is if we want to open Class III gaming at that site when Class III gaming doesn't bring any more revenue to the tribe," said Robert McGhee, vice chairman and tribal relations adviser for the Poarch Creeks.
"And we do a pretty good job of creating a venue for people from Mobile coming to Atmore. That's just something that we would have to sit down and look at the numbers."
The tribe recently floated the idea of paying the state $250 million as a loan or payment to help fill any gap in the General Fund in exchange for a compact granting them exclusive rights to operate table games and slot machines.
Too late?
Alabama has spent years fighting with itself over what to do about gambling -- whether to expand it or try and quash it in the courts. But Marsh's bill -- at least the draft version -- would tempt fortune on a state lottery, gambling expansions at the Birmingham Race Course, Victory Land in Shorter and Greene Track in Eutaw and a compact with the Poarch Creeks.
All three provisions face long odds, requiring the complicity of the governor, the legislature and the will of the people before they can become law. Critics of gambling argue the money earned from the recreation is hardly "free money."
The Alabama Policy Institute also released a paper, outlining the perils that sometime come with more gambling. The report said casinos can sometimes "cannibalize" consumers, sapping the business of an area.
The study also cites "industry saturation," a trend that's particularly acute in the Northeast, but remains an open question on the Gulf Coast.
Alabama would be coming to the gambling game pretty late, industry experts say. And it could be a prelude to the kind of "retaliation" seen in New England.
"Once you open up a casino, in a way you could say that you're retaliating against Mississippi," said Richard McGowan, a professor at Boston College, who follows the gambling industry closely. He said most successful casino operations reel in "out-of staters to come and play."
Lottery questions
But the real money, McGowan said is in the lottery. "In most states -- even like New Jersey and they have nine casinos -- the lottery still brings in way more money than the casinos."
There are currently 43 lotteries in the United States. Alabama is surrounded by them on all sides, except for Mississippi, one of the few states that jumped into casino gambling without a lottery. The Auburn University study did not calculate any revenue for an Alabama lottery in particular, but it does show state comparisons.
Skeptical of a gambling expansion, State Sen. Bill Hightower, whose district includes the Greyhound Park, doesn't think the lottery is a silver bullet either. "The lottery is not going to bring what people think it will bring...we're late to the game. Everybody else has done it," he said.
Hightower said his concerns are, among other things, the costs of setting it up, "which aren't inconsequential," he said. "And what are you going to do with the money? Every state that's gotten one has used the money somewhere else other than where they said they were going to use it."