Montgomery, AL – The Alabama Senate has voted to begin debate on a bill to regulate and tax electronic bingo.
The Senate's vote to begin debate Tuesday was 21-13. The bill is a proposed constitutional amendment that will also need 21 votes to pass the Senate.
The bill's sponsor, Democratic Sen. Roger Bedford of Russellville, has revised his bingo bill. It no longer specifies 10 locations for electronic bingo casinos. The locations will be decided later if Bedford's bill makes it through the Senate and House and is approved by Alabama voters in a referendum Nov. 2.
The bill is designed to thwart efforts by the governor and his gambling task force to close electronic bingo casinos.
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