The debate in the conservative state over asking voters to approve casinos and a lottery as an alternative to raising taxes is producing some unlikely bedfellows Del Marsh doesn’t consider himself a betting man. Yet the longtime Republican official representing Anniston,Alabama, has placed his chips on a solution to fix the state’s several-hundred-million-dollar budget shortfall thats reignited the longstanding debate over a controversial topic in this conservative state: gambling.
Past efforts to loosen Alabama’s gaming restrictions bear largely fallen on closed ears. But the times could be changing. A new proposal to legalize traditional casinos and establish a lottery, and two forms of gambling that bear traditionally encountered backlash in the heart of the Bible belt,has surfaced at the behest of conservative lawmakers.
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Source: theguardian.com