Editorials

Recently, this page has called on the state Legislature to come up with creative solutions to our coming revenue crunch. We need new ways to support essential services. And few of our services are more essential than Medicaid, which supplies health care to our poorest and most vulnerable.

With less money coming into the General Fund, Medicaid cuts loom on the horizon.

Granted, no one in the Legislature wants to cut Medicaid. Gov. Bob Riley does not want to cut Medicaid. But until the other day, no one was doing much but wringing hands and looking pitiful.

That's when Rep. Marcel Black, D-Tuscumbia, introduced a bill that would put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to allow bingo machines at the Birmingham Race Course and the Mobile Greyhound Park. Debate on the bill has since been delayed for fear of not having enough support.

Nevertheless, if voters had approved such a bill, Medicaid coffers could have seen an estimated $51.7 million increase.

As you would expect, the anti-gambling forces have rallied, but their arguments lack the punch they once had.

Yes, this sort of gambling does hurt the poor, but the point has been made that the poor are not the ones who visit the race course and the greyhound park. Besides, supporters (among them the Christian Coalition of Alabama) argue that the money this gambling generates will help the poor more than the gambling will hurt them — not the best of choices, but one that seems inevitable here.

Will this bring in "casino gambling" as opponents claim?

Not likely. The way the bill was written, gambling would be limited to these locations and the places where it already exists — yes, there are bingo machines at other dog tracks. More likely, this bill would potentially stop the proliferation of bingo machines at filling stations and convenience stores.

Of course, there are things about this proposed bill and the campaign to get it passed that are hard to support; the limitations on local government oversight and the way supporters have pushed this as a method to help Medicaid without mentioning gambling are two objections. It's also a concern that our legislators again are adopting an unproven source of revenue and avoiding meaningful tax reform.

Despite these reservations, the need to help Medicaid is great. Since this seems to be the only way the Legislature is willing to meet this need, we are willing to see where this goes.

In expectation, of course, that all those legislators willing to "let the people vote" on bingo machines also will be willing to "let the people vote" on a constitutional convention.