[AL] Alabama Bingo, Casino and Sports Betting [2021]

Alabama – the Yellowhammer State – has quite restrictive gambling laws and regulations, however, online gambling is provided by offshore regulated and licensed operators.

There is one land based racino – VictoryLand, and three tribal casinos that is limited to offering Class II gaming.

All three tribal casinos are owned and operated by the Poarch Band of Creek Indian Tribe.

Horse and greyhound racing is permitted in the state, only if certain requirements are met. As a result there are no horse racing offered in the state, but there is plenty of grey hound action.

Grey hound racing is the stand out form of gambling in the state, with a gross turnover of $76 million each year. Both live and inter track grey hound racing is offered, confined to two locations Birmingham and Mobile County.

Bingo is allowed through non profit organization under the laws of Charitable gaming. The law is unclear regarding the hosting of online bingo sites within the state, and therefore bingo sites remain available to Alabama Players via offshore providers.

Surprisingly, Alabama is only one of a handful of states with no lottery. In 2019, lawmakers begun introducing legislation to be considered to approve lottery products.

In short:

✅ Offshore Online Gambling

✅ Class II Slots only casinos

✅ Greyhound racing

✅ Bingo

❎ State Lottery

❎ Local Sports Betting Online and Retail

❎ Horse racing (technically legal, but none to offer).

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Online Gambling

Online gambling, in particular online casino, games continue to be enjoyed by residents of Alabama.

• There are no state regulated online onshore casino operators.
• There are online offshore casino operators that do accept players from Alabama.
• There are no state regulated online onshore bingo operators.
• There are online offshore bingo operators that do accept players from Alabama.
• Lottery and land based casino gambling are not regulated and no commercial licenses are available for either product. As such, there are no land based casinos that offer online casino games.
• Tribal land based casino licenses are awarded for Class II gaming via state compacts.
• There are no tribal casinos that offer online casino gaming.

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Top 3 Alabama Online Bingo

Alabama has fortunately so many online bingo sites to choose from. For your benefit, we have selected the best 3 online bingo sites based on player feedback, site features and of course, prizes, bonuses and promotions. Enjoy playing online bingo!

Alabama bingo laws are stipulated under Charitable gaming state legislation. These laws provide for the licensing of non profit organizations to operate bingo games. At present, these laws do not address nor permit online bingo by onshore operators. Accordingly, online bingo sites that do accept Alabama players are based offshore (which is the same as online casinos and sports betting sites).

Our recommended online bingo sites all accept players from Alabama. They offer advanced features that include instant messaging, fun bingo games and protocols that ensures bingo participants play together in a civil enjoyable manner. Due to the social aspect of bingo, there is a cultural aspect to bingo which cannot be found with casino or sports betting. As an example, A LOT of acronyms form part of instant chat messaging. If you are not familiar with online bingo lingo, do not be afraid, learning it is one of the most fun parts!

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Best 5 Alabama Online Casinos

Alabama has a tremendous variety of online casinos to choose from. Currently available and offered through various sites that are based offshore – these sites are safe and secure to play at, with no risk posed to Alabama players, both regarding legality or to player data security.

The best online casinos all use the latest SSL internet technology, and feature secure payment methods that are common, trusted and processed by reputable financial institutions. These include: VISA, MasterCard, Amex, Bitcoin (BTC), direct wire transfers and many other methods.

Casino Bonuses are extremely important in selecting an online casino. We have therefore displayed some of the best casino bonuses that can be found whilst balancing other important criteria such as safety and security as previously mentioned. However, for ease of reference, we have listed them according to the size of bonus.

Gaming Variety also comes to the fore for top online casinos. In particular, in today’s world, interactive gaming innovation has improved tremendously, especially in the past few years. We are seeing now, ever increasing powerful playing devices, faster and better internet bandwidth (think 5G that is inevitable) and software engineering that now provides for new online streaming applications i.e. Zoom, MicroSoft Teams. New functionality is leading to cutting edge interactive gaming creating Live Casinos!

New players from all demographics, whether an Asian VIP or casual player, are taking up the opportunity to play at online live casinos.

Faced with a global pandemic that is spreading rapidly (at the time of writing), and with a lack of trust with RNG interactive games, online Live Casinos meet the needs of many Players that are looking for that middle ground.

Alabama Online Live Casinos

The top online live casinos hire professional dealers to operate the games. They also offer great online live casino gaming features that include, unlimited back betting, instant chat messaging and advance blackjack decision making.

There are many online live casinos to choose from. Accordingly, we strong recommend El Royale who have partnered with ViG (Visionary iGaming) – a leading provider of online live casino gaming.

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Alabama Casinos Reviewed

There are three Native American casinos and one racino in Alabama:

CASINO	CITY	MINIMUM AGE
VictoryLand	Shorter	21
Greyhound Race Track	Birmingham	21
Wind Creek Casino	Atmore	21
Wind Creek Casino	Montgomery	21
Wind Creek Casino	Wetumpka	21

Only Class II gaming is allowed at the tribal casinos. Class II gaming is a category of gaming as categorized by the State compact which only allows for bingo games. Accordingly, the electronic gaming machines on offer in Alabama are bingo slot machines. Class III gaming is Vegas style gaming that includes slot machines and casino table games such as blackjack, roulette and baccarat. Class III gaming is currently not permitted in the State, however this is being disputed.

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VictoryLand

8680 County Road 40, Shorter Alabama

VictoryLand is a dog cum casino cum hotel combination. Here you will find quality Class II bingo slot machines and simulcast horse and dog betting. In addition there are regular daily and weekly door prizes, rewards for simply playing at the machines. Unfortunately there are no table games available, however, they have the largest number of bingo slot machines out of all the casinos in the State.

Birmingham Horse Greyhound and Casino

1000 John Rogers Drive, Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama and is home to a horse dog casino combined facility (racino). Inside you will find slot machines on the lower floor, and simulcast screens on the second floor that shows both horse and dog meets. The race track is for greyhounds only with simulcast betting on both the dogs and horses. All the state permitted gambling can be found in this venue.

Wind Creek Casino Atmore

303 Poarch Rd, Atmore, Alabama

The Wind Creek tribe operates three casinos in Alabama (and several others in other US States). The Wind Creek Atmore casinos has over 1,700 Class II bingo slot machines. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to find any Class III Vegas style gaming. In order to play Class III games select an online Live Casino such as El Royale, which offers blackjack, roulette, baccarat and Super 6 with Live Dealers.

Wind Creek Casino Montgomery

1801 Eddie L Tullis Rd, Montgomery, Alabama

Open from 6am to 3am each day. The middle sized of the three Wind Creek casinos, Montgomery offers over 2,200 Class II bingo slot machines on over 65,000 sq ft of gaming floor. The ambiance is great, with professional service.

Wind Creek Wetumpka

100 River Oaks Drive, Wetumpka Alabama

The largest of the three Wind Creek Casinos, the Wetumpka hosts over 2,500 Class II bingo slot machines. An extremely classy and sophisticated casino that many players love to enjoy their slot machines.

Gulf Shores Alabama

One of the most popular tourist and local visitor locations is the Gulf Shores in Alabama. Often players are looking for a land based casino to play at, however, unfortunately there are no casinos in Gulf Shore.

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Sports Betting

Mobile Sports Betting is currently not available via onshore providers. HB336 has been introduced to the House which would permit the issuance of 4 licenses for sports betting via Alabama Sports Wagering Commission. Until HB336 is passed, sports betting remains illegal onshore.

In the meantime, offshore based online providers exist and they accept Alabama bettors, with no precedence of any bettor being informed of a breach in law, let alone charged with a misdemeanor or felony.

Daily Fantasy Sports

Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) is growing fast in popularity. New to the gambling scene, it is considered a game of skill by many which requires bettors to create a fictitious team based on real players. The performance of the real sports players in real life determine how successful the fictitious team is. As a result, it truly is those with the most “skills” will win.

The two most popular daily fantasy sports providers in the US are DraftKings and FanDuel. On this site, we do not actively promote daily fantasy sports as we understand that it is a game of “skill” which is being exploited by bettors who have the best risk modelling. That is, it isn’t nearly about how well you know your sport, the sport players etc, but rather it is very much about who has the best statistical model and who has access to the most detailed sports player data.

As someone who may be a big fan of sport, and thinking that they would have a good chance of winning money in DFS, think again. You are pitted against statistical modelling experts who deliberately target games that mostly have new and inexperienced players to DFS. In fact, it has been alleged that those who are extremely good at DFS have been known to collaborate among themselves and not compete with each other. Thereby creating a sustainable winning formula shared by the experts.

We therefore want our readers to be aware that DFS is not what is appears to be. In fairness, DFS is legal in Alabama and many DFS onshore operators accept Alabama players.

Read More: How to Play Daily Fantasy Sports

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Gambling Laws

• Online onshore casino operators are explicitly prohibited.
• Tribal casinos are permitted to lawfully offer Class II slots and bingo games on tribal land.
• Only cities with populations greater than three hundred (300) thousand may offer horse and dog racing. There are currently two venues which lawfully operate dog racing.
• Pari-mutuel horse and dog wagering is permitted at licensed venues, however because there are no cities with populations over three hundred that wish to offer horse racing, no horse racing venues are available.
• Charitable gaming is permitted by not for profit organisations. Gaming includes bingo and raffles.

Gambling Taxes

Casinos are taxed at a rate of 18% of gross gaming revenue.

Regulation and Governance

Alabama Lottery and Gaming Commission (To be formed)

Gambling Legislation

• Alabama State Code
• Alabama Criminal Code

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Alabama Gambling Market Developments

2015

During early 2015, SB453 and HB453 were put forward in both the Senate and the House. These bills were to legalize a state wide lottery and to regulate land based casino.

A strong impetus was in place to address Alabama’s economic woes with the lottery and other forms of casino games.

SB453 in summary:

• Introduce a lottery to the State and be regulated by Alabama Lottery and Gaming Commission,
• Permit Class III casino gaming through the construct of compacts with tribes on tribal land.
• Create revenue from the lottery that would be directed to support Alabama community initiatives
• Have a tax rate of 18% on casino activity

Alas SB453 was continually postponed for decision making, before ending in failure.

Disappointingly, a poll conducted within the state showed that there was strong support for liberating the current gambling laws. The poll results indicated:

• 89% wanted the right to vote on gaming, and with strong opposition to the imposition of an additional tax to address the budget deficit.
• 80% were in favor of a state lottery to support education.

2016

The fight for a state lottery continues, with HB13 introduced to the house. HB13 was intended to amend the State constitution to permit a state lottery that would direct funds to the State education policy. If passed, it would proceed to the Senate for a two thirds majority hurdle then through to a referendum. Towards the end of 2016, changes to lottery laws again fail to transpire.

While the lottery legislation was bubbling away, Daily Fantasy Sport made its first appearance with the Attorney General declaring it illegal. DraftKings and Fanduel were forced to stop their operations having been issued with cease and desist notices.

2017

The year of DFS! Senator Whatley introduces SB28 to allow for DFS to be legalized and regulated. DFS bill HB354 was also introduced to the House by Alan Booth that would install the Office of the Attorney General as the regulator with the legal minimum age of 19. It passed the House and went through to the Senate for consideration.

Bingo also got a mention in 2017, with a ruling to prevent bingo operators from operating electronic bingo machines (effectively slot like machines).

2018

DFS is raised again through SB325 with the requirement of operators to pay a registration fee of $5,000 if having fewer that 5,000 active players, and $85,000 if more than 5,000 active players. SB325 eventually fails with the Senate blocking it.Legislation to authorise and regulate daily fantasy sports (SB325) was dropped from the legislature after the Senate voted against its passage.

2019

An avalanche of sweeping wide ranging bills that would significantly change the landscape of gambling if successful.

State wide lottery was reintroduced, along with sports betting under an Alabama Sports Wagering Commission. Sport betting licenses to be issued at $100,000 with a tax rate of 15%.

Bingo electronic machines is again addressed with HB422 to allow racetracks to operate them.

2020

The Poarch Band of Creek Indians pushes to have the ability to operate a tribal casino through a state compact. But Governor Kay Ivey is not buying any of it, and is reluctant to allow HB336 to pass. HB336 would allow for land based and mobile sports betting, allow 4 licenses to be issue for sports betting through the Alabama Sports Wagering Commission with a tax rate of 10% of gross wins.

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FAQ

Can I play at online games in Alabama?

The state laws expressly do not allow for commercial operators to provide for online gambling. However it is unclear and therefore unaddressed as to whether Alabama players can participate in online gambling. As a result, online casinos, sports betting sites and online bingo are provided by offshore operators, while Alabama players continue to play. To this date, there has been no record of any player being informed of breaching the law.

What is the legal minimum age to play at online casinos?

Each online casinos sets their own minimum legal gambling age. But they also take into consideration the Player’s place of residence and the laws in their jurisdiction. It is the higher of either the online casino or the player’s residential jurisdiction that determines the legal minimum age. Therefore, for Alabama players, it will be 21 years of age.

Is sports betting legal in Alabama?

At the time of writing HB336 has been introduced for consideration, which would allow for retail and mobiles sports betting through four issued licenses. HB336 has yet to be passed, and therefore sports betting remains illegal in Alabama.

Are there any casinos in Birmingham Alabama?

There are no Vegas style casinos in Birmingham, Alabama. However there is a racino- greyhound/horse/casino – Birmingham Greyhound, Horse and Casino. The casinos offers only slot machines and no table games.

Is Alabama Daily Fantasy Sports fair?

An average player would stand little chance of winning due to professional players subscribing to sports data and utilising sophisticated statistical models to place bets on optimal outcomes.

What is the minimum age to play at VictoryLand, Wind Creek Casino or the Greyhound Race Track?

The minimum age is 21 years old.