In a historic move, Alabama Representative Chip Brown proposed a lottery bill to generate new sources of revenue to fund higher education in the State.

Called the House Bill 501, the proposal was placed before the House Economic Development and Tourism Committee. Brown said that the Alabama gaming community had played lotteries for a year now. However, they are essentially playing in other states. Hence, the representative believes that such revenue should remain within the State and be used for crucial socio-economic funding such as higher education and public education.

Lottery Bill for public education

The revenue earned from the lottery will be used as a scholarship for students who want to pursue higher education. The proposal is that two-year higher education program grants will be limited to $2,500 per student. However, for the four-year courses, grants will be provided based on the income generated from the lottery sales and the student’s eligibility factors.

Conservative State takes to lottery laws

Ironically, the proposal by Representative Brown comes at a time when the State of Alabama is only one of the five states which allow the sale of lottery. It is a conservative state and therefore does not have any form of commercial casinos. No Slot machines or table games are currently offered, except for tribal casinos, which operate only bingo-based gaming or Class II Casino operations.

But the pro-lawmakers do expect opposition, as a fresh mandate for anti-gaming was passed in 2022. In addition, a proposal earlier in the month for a lottery, sports betting, and five casinos were stalled at the full Senate, even though the Alabama Senate Tourism Committee approved the bill of lottery.

Hence, Brown has proposed only a lottery bill. If approved, it would provide the legal approach to run instant and draw games and participate in popular lotteries of other states like Powerball or Mega Millions. The State Treasury expects lottery sales to lead to $198 million to $285 million in annual revenue even after operating costs and payout commissions.

One other State which has adopted lottery laws for higher education is Georgia. The State has had such as system in place since 1992 and has thus far raised $25billion from it for education.