{"id":171882,"date":"2025-04-05T06:55:45","date_gmt":"2025-04-05T06:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/alabama\/sen-gudger-pulls-the-pin-on-gaming-package-with-77-word-grenade\/"},"modified":"2025-04-05T06:55:45","modified_gmt":"2025-04-05T06:55:45","slug":"sen-gudger-pulls-the-pin-on-gaming-package-with-77-word-grenade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=171882","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Gudger pulls the pin on gaming package with 77-word grenade"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>On Thursday afternoon, Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger, R\u2013Cullman, detonated any hope that Alabama\u2019s long effort to pass a comprehensive gaming bill would survive the 2025 session.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith 12 meeting days remaining in the session, both budgets still awaiting approval, and other important bills and measures demanding focus and attention, the comprehensive gaming bill released today is simply too little, too late, and has too few votes to pass,\u201d Gudger said in a terse, 77-word statement that landed like a hand grenade to months of behind-the-scenes efforts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe that passing a comprehensive gaming bill in the Senate will require engaging in long-term and intense negotiations among members and securing the needed votes and commitments well before a legislative session even begins,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>The timing of the blow was particularly jarring. Just a day prior, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians and the McGregor family announced that Wind Creek Hospitality \u2014 PCI\u2019s gaming and hotel arm \u2014 had acquired the Birmingham Racecourse. The high-profile deal was seen by many as a signal that a gaming compromise might finally be within reach. But if Thursday proved anything, it\u2019s that nothing ever quite reaches the finish line in Alabama when it comes to gambling.<\/p>\n<p>The legislative wreckage around gaming has been building for nearly two decades, with countless bills dying just before a final vote \u2014 sacrificed on the altar of special interests, backroom squabbles and lobbyists who benefit from the chaos.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUntil voters prove that cleaning up gambling in this state is important enough to cost someone an election, nothing will change,\u201d APR columnist and investigative reporter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alreporter.com\/2025\/04\/02\/opinion-theres-a-new-gambling-bill-but-the-same-old-story\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Josh Moon wrote earlier this week<\/a>. \u201cThey\u2019ll keep right on dangling these oh-so-close debates in front of everyone and pretending that these are really complicated, tough issues that they just can\u2019t get together on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn reality, the only thing that is necessary for a decent gambling bill to pass will be up to voters in 2026,\u201d Moon continued. \u201cSomeone is going to have to lose an election over it.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-6\" style=\"margin: 8px auto; text-align: center; display: block; clear: both;\">\n<div class=\"zox-post-ad-wrap\"><span class=\"zox-ad-label\">Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe fact is it\u2019s not a hard issue at this point. The people support it \u2014 it\u2019s the number one issue in most polls among likely voters \u2014 and the nuances and facts have been kicked around so much by now that they\u2019re not mysterious or confusing, even to the casual observer,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n<p>As for what drove Gudger\u2019s sudden detonation, the theories are already circulating: it could\u2019ve been the infighting within the Baldwin County Senate delegation, or perhaps he simply realized the bills \u2014 and there were many \u2014 being floated behind the scenes were never going to survive a floor vote. Whatever the reason, the result is the same \u2014 another session collapsing under the weight of familiar dysfunction.<\/p>\n<p>Like it or not, Gudger showed leadership \u2014 cutting through false hope and political theater to declare the gaming bill dead on arrival in the 2025 session.<\/p>\n<p>As Moon said, \u201cUntil the people hold someone accountable for these constant failures, it\u2019s highly unlikely anything will change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Thursday afternoon, Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger, R\u2013Cullman, detonated any hope that Alabama\u2019s long effort to pass a comprehensive gaming bill would survive the 2025 session. \u201cWith 12 meeting days remaining in the session, both budgets still awaiting approval, and other important bills and measures demanding focus and attention, the comprehensive gaming bill [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":171883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11763],"tags":[33526,68809,743,68810,38035,2208,1257,49519,22950,10191,68808],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-171882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alabama","tag-2025-legislative-session","tag-77word","tag-gaming","tag-grenade","tag-gudger","tag-package","tag-pin","tag-poarch-band-of-creek-indians","tag-pulls","tag-sen","tag-senate-president-pro-tem-garlan-gudger"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sen. Gudger pulls the pin on gaming package with 77-word grenade - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=171882\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sen. Gudger pulls the pin on gaming package with 77-word grenade - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Thursday afternoon, Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger, R\u2013Cullman, detonated any hope that Alabama\u2019s long effort to pass a comprehensive gaming bill would survive the 2025 session. \u201cWith 12 meeting days remaining in the session, both budgets still awaiting approval, and other important bills and measures demanding focus and attention, the comprehensive gaming bill [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=171882\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-05T06:55:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/AdobeStock_396262168-scaled-e1743724152150.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1442\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=171882#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=171882\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"Sen. 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