Curtis Travis conducts meeting at Eutaw City Hall
By: John Zippert, Co-Publisher
On December 13, 2023, State Representative Curtis Travis held a community meeting at the Eutaw City Hall to discuss upcoming legislation impacting gaming in Greene County and seeking the input of Greene County residents on the legislation.
Representative Travis explained that he has not yet seen the proposed legislation but knows that something is in the works. “Other legislators and state officials have told me there are hundreds of illegal gambling places in the state and the state is losing revenues from these unsanctioned gambling establishments, said Travis.
Travis says he anticipates a bill which “will include a statewide lottery, designation of a number of state sanctioned full casinos, some consideration of sports betting and some provisions for places like Greene County, which have Constitutional Amendments regulating bingo gaming.”
Travis continued, “All gaming will be under a statewide regulatory body to make sure the revenues come to the State of Alabama. It is not clear what will happen to places like Greene County that have a Constitutional Amendment governing gaming, like C. A. 743 for Greene County, which contains a mechanism for distributing revenues.”
Representative Travis asked the fifty people present at the meeting, for their opinions on the legislation and their bottom-line requirements for the legislation.
Brenda Burke, speaking in her role as Administrator for the Greene County Commission said, “In the past few years, the Commission has used funds from bingo to provide matching funds for $18 million dollars in road and bridge improvement projects. We need to have continued funding from
gaming to support new projects.”
Dr. Marcia Pugh, Administrator of the Greene County Health System, said, “We have received $60,000 a month in support for our hospital and nursing home payrolls, from electronic bingo. We are counting on this level of support for the health system from whatever gaming legislation is passed.
John Zippert, co-Publisher of the Greene County Democrat said, “I am concerned about two things, first, that we know exactly how much money is flowing through the gambling establishments in Greene County ; and two, that Greene County agencies, including municipalities, the school system and hospital, as well as non-profit charities, are held harmless and receive at least as much annually as they receive from bingo – which currently is $600,000 a month or $7.2 million a year.”
A person working with Greenetrack, said “If the new legislation gives us a full-service casino in Greene County, then we will get as much or more revenues from the one casino as we did from five bingo halls.
Some participants at the meeting expressed concerns that since May 2023, their municipality or organization had not received any distribution of funds from the Sheriff. He has said he is using these funds to cover the legal costs of defending bingo in Greene County, against the State of Alabama, which is trying to close gaming because it claims the bingo machines are ’llegal gambling machines’.
Representative Travis said the meeting was not to discuss current problems but to deal with the impending legislation. He said he was willing to come back and hold another meeting to discuss the current status of gaming.
School system Superintendent Corey Jones said the school system was receiving funds from bingo until recently, which were used to benefit the educational advancement of students.” We hope we will receive an earmarked portion of whatever gaming resources come to Greene County, since the original intention of the gaming legislation was to help public education in Greene County.
The general consensus of the meeting was that Greene County be treated as a special case, in the upcoming legislation, since we have gaming under Constitutional Amendment 743; and that agencies currently receiving funds be able to continue receiving funds commensurate with gaming in the community.