By Alabama Public Radio
Montgomery, AL – Former state Representative Nathan Mathis has announced that he'll run for Governor as an Independent. The former Democratic representative from Newton says he'll also run on a gambling platform. If elected, Mathis says he will negotiate a compact with the Poarch Creek Indians that would allow them to turn their gambling halls at Atmore, Wetumpka and Montgomery into full-fledged casinos -- provided they pay 12 percent of the revenue to the state. And he says he would propose a constitutional amendment that would allow other casinos to be developed in the state as well. Mathis says he believes the casinos would be a good source of tax revenue to fund prisons, Medicaid and state troopers.