Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said today she won’t consider talks with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians about an agreement to expand gambling in the state until she gets hard numbers about how much money such a deal would generate in tax revenue.

Ivey also said she wants to know more about how much money a lottery would raise. But a lawmaker who chairs an Alabama House budget committee said the lottery has been thoroughly studied and he hopes to get a bill passed and on the ballot for voters in November.

Ivey announced a fact-gathering initiative on gambling during her state of the state address Tuesday night, a speech that marked the start of the 2020 legislative session.

Ivey said she would name the members of the fact-gathering panel with an executive order in the coming days. She said she would give the group until the end of the year to report its findings but said it could be sooner.

“But I want them to be thorough and get the facts," Ivey said. “That’s all I want is the facts, not recommendations. I just want the facts about how much monies the state can expect to gain if we just do a lottery or if we do expanded gaming or if we do a compact (an agreement with the Poarch Creeks). And what the heck does a compact look like? What are the components of a compact? What are the responsibilities of both parties? We don’t know.”

The Poarch Creeks have offered to negotiate an agreement with the state to pay for exclusive rights to offer Class III gambling, which includes slot machines and table games such as blackjack and craps. The games would be at the tribe’s electronic bingo casinos in Atmore, Wetumpka, and Montgomery, plus two additional casino sites.

The Poarch Creeks have promoted the offer as a “billion dollar plan” in TV ads and on a website, Winning for Alabama. The tribe says the state would receive an estimated $350 million in annual revenue from the gambling, plus hundreds of millions in license and compact fees.

Ivey said she has not had any discussions with the Poarch Creeks since she became governor in April 2017 and has no plans to do so until her working group gathers the facts.

The governor has not been an advocate for a lottery or expanded gambling and said she believes that it’s a poor way to fund essential services. Ivey said she’s not opposed to people having a chance to vote on expanded gambling, but wants more information.

Ivey called the lottery bill sponsor, Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, before her speech Tuesday night and told him she was going to announce the fact-gathering initiative.

“I said, ‘Steve I’m not asking you to withdraw your bill,’” Ivey said. “'I’m just telling you what I’m going to do and I invite you to consider what I’m going to do and maybe join me.'”

Clouse announced last month that he would sponsor a proposed constitutional amendment to establish a lottery to fund prekindergarten and needs-based scholarships for career tech and college students.

Clouse’s bill would authorize Alabama to sell instant lottery tickets and take part in multi-state lottery games like Power Ball and Mega Millions. The legislative fiscal office estimated it would raise net proceeds of $167 million a year. Clouse said he planned to talk to Ivey again soon and would wait a couple of weeks before introducing his bill.

“But I really don’t think the lottery needs to be a part of that study group,” Clouse said. “We’ve been talking about this for 21 years now. The fiscal office did an extensive study on that like they did on all the issues. So I don’t know where this group is going to come up with any different figures than what the fiscal office did.

“They were pretty detailed and took a lot of different components into play to come up with their $167 million figure. And I really think that’s sort of conservative, and I think they do, too.”

Forty-five states have lotteries, including the four that border Alabama.

Clouse said he wanted to pass a bill this session because that would put it on the ballot for the presidential election in November.

“The election for November voting for president is the most highly participated election in our election cycle,” Clouse said. “That would be the perfect place for it to be for the most amount of people to vote on it without any additional expense to the taxpayers.”

The governor’s support is not necessary for a lottery to pass. As a proposed constitutional amendment, it would not require the governor’s signature to go on the ballot for voters. It would require the support of three-fifths of the members of the House and the Senate.

It’s been 21 years since Alabama voters last considered a state lottery. In 1999, they rejected the plan by Gov. Don Siegelman by a margin of 54% to 46%.