Chris Boline
Soon enough, we could see great news for Alabama sports betting. When the latest Alabama legislative session got started, one of the main topics of conversation was 100 percent the potential legalization of sports betting. This is something that the state has wanted for a while. And now, the Alabama Senator is hoping to combine sports betting bills to come up with one that everyone can get on the same page for.
Indeed, Senator Greg Albritton came out and said that while several different sports betting bills were set to be presented for the legislative session, his goal was to try and take a little bit of everything from each one to try and come up with the best final product. This has opened plenty of eyes, as Albritton appears to be going all in to make something positive happen in the fight to get things legalized.
“I believe there will be at least one, probably closer to five different gaming bills that will be dropped in the House and the Senate,” Albritton said via a recent interview with WAFF 48 News in Huntsville, Alabama. “It is my intention to take each one of those as they come and try to combine them into a comprehensive bill, which is what the state needs.”
Illegal bets have been a growing problem for Alabama in recent years, which is something that Albritton and Co. want to try and eliminate as soon as possible. The best way to get this done will be to make sure legal betting options are put on the table as soon as possible. Albritton thinks he’ll be able to make this happen. The best thing about all of this is he has loads of support. Once the right plan gets put into action, it will only help the sports betting efforts for the state.
Illegal betting was through the roof for March Madness
Over the past month, illegal betting was through the roof for March Madness in Alabama. Obviously, people all over the state were checking the March Madness betting odds, as the Alabama Crimson Tide posted an amazing regular season, which led to them getting a No. 1 seed. With the Tide having such strong odds to win it all, people were rushing to get their bets in for the local time.
The main issue there, though, is that sports betting remains illegal in Alabama. Because of this, people had to either go through bookies or off-shore accounts to place their illegal wagers. That’s not good. Also, plenty of sports fans traveled to outside states to get their bets in on Alabama. This is something Albritton has seen too many times as well, which is bad news for the local economy.
If sports betting was legal for Alabama this year, we would have seen plenty of bets come in not only for March Madness, but the NFL season as well. Football is king in Alabama, with January and February always being big betting months because of the Super Bowl betting odds. Moving forward, the hope is that by next season, people won’t have to worry about placing bets through bookies or off-shore accounts.
The hope indeed is that legal activity will be permitted. If the lawmakers can all put together a strong sports betting bill, then we could finally see things turned around for the state. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done, but the good news is that things appear to be moving in the right direction. This is something Albritton wants to get done as soon as possible. We should find out soon if his efforts will be worth it or not.
Wooden Award All-American 🇺🇸
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— Alabama Men’s Basketball (@AlabamaMBB) March 31, 2023
Alabama officials are hoping things can get done
Right now, Alabama officials are hoping things can get done, especially with other positive movements going on in other southern states. In Florida, their case continues to be pending in the appeals court. As for Georgia, their top sports betting bill is back in play after things seemed like they were going to die on the table. Instead, lawmakers were somehow able to get things back from the dead.
As you’re probably aware, more than 30 states have legalized betting. In the past year alone, others have gotten things across the line, including Ohio. In the first month alone, Ohio reported more than $1 billion in total bets, with $208 million in total revenue. Those are incredible numbers for Ohio. This just goes to show how great things can be for other states who haven’t been able to legalize betting just yet.
This is something that Alabama officials are keeping in mind. The betting potential is quite high, especially with the Alabama Crimson Tide always having high NCAAF betting odds. Thanks to Nick Saban, they’ve always got a great chance to win the National Championship Game. People would love to place bets on them. Throughout football season, the NFL betting odds would be checked quite a bit too. Now, it’s on lawmakers to try and get things finished.
"Character is an accumulation of your thoughts, habits, and priorities.
Those three things determine the choices that you make.
Then, the choices that you make – make you who you are." -Nick SabanThe choices you make influence the path you can take. pic.twitter.com/hhHx2oODZ3
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