To help solve the state’s “funding crisis,” Gov. Robert Bentley has called a special session for consideration of a state lottery.

According to reports, Bentley announced his plan on his website, and on Twitter as he tweeted, “BREAKING: We need your help solving our funding crisis. I’m giving you’re the opportunity to vote on a Statewide Lottery.”

“From the Tennessee Valley to the Gulf Coast, our great state is rich in abundant resources, blessed beyond measure with all a state could ask for to prosper and to thrive,” Bentley said on his website. “I believe the greatest of all our assets, is our people. I have no doubt Alabama has the best, hardest-working people in the country.

“But in order for our state to be the best that it can be, we must once and for all solve problems that have held our state back for decades,” he said. “The State of Alabama has not and cannot, at this time, pay for the most basic services we must provide to our people.”

Bentley said an Alabama lottery is expected to generate approximately $225 million on an annual basis, and his plan will dedicate the new revenue to the basic services the state provides.