ENTERPRISE — In his speech to the Republican Women of Coffee County on Thursday, 12th Circuit Judge Sonny Reagan emphasized Alabama's history and political battle over gambling.
"The number one rule that I learned with gambling legislation," said Reagan. "This isn't about gambling… This is about political power… who's behind legislation and who stands to benefit from it."
Reagan previously served as assistant attorney general and legal advisor to former Gov. Bob Riley.
In 2009, when gambling legalization appeared imminent, Reagan talked with other states to draft amendments to regulate gambling. One amendment would have "limited political contributions so that an entity couldn't become so powerful that they control politics in the state."
At that time, a professor from the University of Nevada in Las Vegas told Reagan that if gambling were legalized statewide, Alabama could expect 6% of its population to become "problem gamblers," with a state cost of $12,000 per addicted gambler.
Reagan explained how, even though most gambling is strongly prohibited by state law, the federal government allows Alabama's only federally recognized Native American Indian Tribe, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians (PCI), to operate casinos.
PCI's casino operations grew "by leaps and bounds" following a 2009 Alabama Supreme Court ruling on bingo, which led to the shuttering of most other gambling resorts in the state.
In addition to casinos, PCI has 15 federal contracts, including nearly $80 million for cybersecurity with the Department of Defense and $217 million with NASA for communication services.
"They want to be viewed as not an operator of casinos, but as an economic development type," said Reagan."
According to OpenSecrets, PCI spent nearly $2.5 million on political contributions and lobbying last year.
Reagan said regulators told him that once gambling legislation is passed, it will be nearly impossible to increase the tax rate or regulation later "because of the political influence…over the legislators."
He warned, "If the wrong bill gets legalized…it could create a situation where we're not really in charge of this party anymore, some other entity with a lot of money is because they can affect all the elections."
Former State Sen. Dwight Adams (R-New Brockton) said when he served in Montgomery from 1994-1998, a Michigan state senator told him, "In the state of Michigan, policing the bad behavior is more than we take in from gambling… it's a net losing proposition."
Reagan added, "A slot machine is designed to play on a person's addictions… Casinos have no clocks on the wall. There are no windows. They want you to lose track of time."
Coffee County Sheriff Scott Byrd explained how he and District Attorney James Tarbox shut down illegal slot machines in the county after he became sheriff in 2023.
"Everything to do with gambling is wrong, in my opinion," said Byrd. "…I understand that people are pushing marijuana on us; they're pushing gambling on us again. It's just going to dumb our society, and make the weak weaker…"
Byrd promised, "We're going to keep on knocking out the illegal stuff. If the legislature passes some legislation… we'll follow the law."
Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
