The state Senate approved ”Bingo for Books” legislation late Thursday night, providing a victory for dog track owners who want to expand their attractions.

According to Sen. Hank Sanders, a supporter of the bill, dog track owners aren’t the only ones who win.

Sanders said this bill would be a chance to make things better for education in Alabama.

The 21-9 vote came shortly before midnight as the Legislature was leaving for a one-week spring break. The legislation still must be passed by the House of Representatives and approved by Alabama voters in a referendum Nov. 2 before taking effect.

Proponents were unsure how the legislation would fare in the House.

The legislation would expand high-stakes bingo to all of Alabama’s dog tracks and tax it to purchase textbooks for public schools. The Senate’s vote followed two days of debate, much of it staged by proponents while they rounded up votes.

An opponent, Sen. Hank Erwin, R-Montevallo, said the legislation allows traditional bingo games and individual bingo machines similar to casino-style games.

A proponent, Sen. Larry Means, D-Gadsden, said the proposal would not allow wide-open gambling in Alabama.

The debate was often colorful. For nearly two hours, Sens. Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery, and Myron Penn, D-Union Springs, staged a mock bingo game, with Ross calling numbers and Penn checking his bingo card.

The legislation is pushed by dog track owners who have seen customers lured away by casinos in Mississippi, lotteries in three of Alabama’s neighboring states, and untaxed Indian gambling halls in Montgomery, Wetumpka and Atmore.

The dog tracks in Macon and Greene counties already have high-stakes bingo through constitutional amendments approved by voters in those counties last year. They make donations to local charities, but pay no taxes on the bingo games.

The legislation is a proposed constitutional amendment that would expand high-stakes bingo to the dog tracks in Mobile and Birmingham. It would also levy a 10 percent state tax and 4 percent local tax on the net proceeds from the games at all four tracks.

The state revenue &045; estimated at $32 million to $50 million annually &045; would be set aside to purchase textbooks and other instructional supplies.

Opponents said that if those revenue estimates are correct, then dog track owners would be left with $275 million to $430 million annually after paying the winners and the state and local taxes.

A proponent, Sen. Jeff Enfinger, D-Huntsville, said the legislation limits gambling to locations where it is already conducted, and it raises tax revenue without making all citizens pay for the increase.

Sen. Charles Steele, who has the Greene County dog track in his district, said adding other types of gambling boosts attendance. He said betting on Greenetrack’s simulcast dog races has reached record levels since the track added bingo games.

Steele, D-Tuscaloosa, got the legislation rewritten to reduce the state taxes on the Greene County track if the addition of bingo at the other tracks causes Greenetrack’s average monthly revenue to drop below 75 percent of its current level.