When the Alabama Legislature’s 2024 session begins in March, there will be a familiar item on the agenda — gambling.

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For roughly the 15th time in the past 20ish legislative sessions, lawmakers will take a stab at passing some form of comprehensive gambling legislation. But unlike those failed attempts of the past, the 2024 effort will have something a little different:

A House Speaker pushing the bill.

Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, has made no secret of the fact that he’s on board with the gambling legislation that will emerge from a gambling committee he put together. That committee is expected, according to sources with knowledge of the committee’s work, to introduce a comprehensive bill that would, if approved by voters, legalize gaming at certain locations around the state.