With the Alabama Legislature convening for special session on Monday, August 3, Dr. Rob Couch and I produced a letter about the legislature defaulting to gambling as a disturbing answer for the budget shortfall. We appreciate your interest and action.

Gambling Isn’t the Answer

Most residents of Alabama are probably aware that our State is facing a serious financial crisis of an up to 700 million dollar annual shortfall in our General Fund. As pastors who live in and around our State’s capital we’ve watched closely as our Governor, Legislators, and many faithful State leaders and workers have wrestled with this revenue shortfall. These persons have made tough choices and worked hard to reduce the expenses of our State, but cutting costs hasn’t been enough. As Governor Bentley has plainly stated, our State is facing a revenue problem in the General Fund.

Governor Bentley proposed several measures which involved raising revenue from many different sources, but was unable to pass most of them through the Legislature. Governor Bentley has called a special session to deal with the budget shortfall and the legislators will begin to deliberate in earnest on Monday, August 3rd. Unfortunately some of our legislators believe the best answer to our budget woes is to expand gambling in the State. Governor Bentley has limited the scope of this special session to reduce the chances of an expansion of gambling, however, with a two thirds vote gambling could be considered. The gambling that Sen. Dell Marsh is proposing is far more than has ever been proposed in recent memory. This is not just a lottery for education as has been voted down in the past, it is a proposal to amend Alabama’s Constitution to allow full scale casino gambling throughout our State.

The harms of gambling and the false promise of economic development through the expansion of gambling are well documented. Gambling has the power to decimate families and communities and tends to have a disproportionate negative impact on the poor. According to an independent study by Dr. Earl Grinols, distinguished professor of economics at Baylor University, for every one dollar in tax revenue generated by casino gambling, there are three dollars in added social costs, including increased costs to taxpayers to deal with crime, bankruptcies, foreclosures, divorce, child abuse/neglect, and the like. The United Methodist stand against gambling is clear in paragraph 163.G of the 2012 United Methodist Book of Discipline. It states, in part: “Gambling is a menace to society, deadly to the best interests of moral, social, economic, and spiritual life, destructive of good government and good stewardship.”

In order for widespread gambling to happen in Alabama, the State’s Constitution must be amended through a statewide referendum. Many of our legislators would not want to approve an expansion of gambling in our State, but will be pressured by special interest groups to allow this to be voted upon by the people. In a statewide referendum the well-funded and highly motivated pro-gambling lobby would spring into action to convince Alabamians to pass this amendment, leaving true opponents of gambling, which are mostly churches, non-profits, and other advocates for the poor, with very little opportunity to convey their viewpoint. This is why we must ask our representatives to take responsibility for this decision now and stop any effort to expand gambling.

We don’t believe our legislators would even dream of this widespread expansion of gambling if they felt they had another choice. The truth is they do. Governor Bentley has proposed reasonable tax hikes and other revenue measures to cover most of the shortfall in the General Fund. To this point legislators have been reticent to approve these measures, fearing the citizens of Alabama are unwilling to pay for good government. We believe most Alabamians are smarter than that. In total we’ve lived in five different Alabama counties throughout our lives. In every place we’ve found good people who care deeply for their neighbors and take great pride in our State. These people realize that having a just and fair society that cares for its most vulnerable citizens is not free, and they are willing to pay what it costs to have this kind of society.

Our representatives need to hear from us. They need to know that we are willing to fund what it costs to run our state without having to expand gambling. They need to know that we support their making wise choices for what is best for all Alabamians. Please take a moment right now to e-mail or call your State Senator and your State Representative to let them know your viewpoint.

Rev. Dr. Rob Couch

Senior Pastor

First United Methodist Church of Prattville

Rev. Dr. Brian Miller

Senior Pastor

Aldersgate United Methodist Church of Montgomery