Gambling bill would allow 7 casinos in Kentucky
Gov. Steve Beshear
By Janet Patton
jpatton1@herald-leader.com
FRANKFORT — Backed by a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers, Gov. Steve Beshear on Tuesday introduced a constitutional amendment to allow casinos.
The bill, filed Tuesday by Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, would allow up to seven casinos — five at horse tracks and two elsewhere.
“We’re here today to announce the filing of legislation to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that lets the people decide once and for all,” Beshear said.
The governor said additional tax revenue and licensing fees from casinos could buoy the state budget and help the Kentucky horse industry, which is threatened by competition from other states with casinos.
Thayer said co-sponsors from both parties have signed up for the bill, which he expects to be sent to the Senate State and Local Government Committee, which he chairs.
He said he expects it next to come up for a hearing and probably a vote on Feb. 22.
They were joined at the announcement by Agriculture Commissioner Jamie Comer, a Republican. Comer, who won in a landslide, campaigned on supporting the horse industry with expanded gambling. Thayer said Comer and Beshear will testify at the hearing.
The Family Foundation, a conservative advocacy group that opposes casino gambling, also will speak.
Martin Cothran, a Family Foundation spokesman, said it is a mistake for lawmakers to see this as a question of letting the people decide.
“This bill is an attempt by wealthy horse track owners and casino interests to buy their way into the Constitution like box seats at a ball game,” he said.
The legislation filed Tuesday would protect tracks by not allowing any freestanding casino within 60 miles of a track. It also specifies that revenue from gambling would go to the “support of the horse industry,” as well as job creation, education, human services, health care, veterans programs, local governments and public safety.
Recent polls by racetracks and by the state Republican Party show that more than 80 percent of Kentuckians want the issue on the ballot.
Filed Under: Damon Thayer • KY General Assembly • State Budget • State Government • Steve Beshear
About the Author: John Stamper is the accountability editor for the Lexington Herald-Leader. A native of Monticello, Ky., he has been with the Herald-Leader in a variety of roles since graduating from Western Kentucky University in 2000. Reach him at jstamper@herald-leader.com
No more handouts to racetracks.
No more handouts to horse breeders.
No more corporate handouts.
This is special interest handout politics at its worst. They are proposing amending the state constitution to write into it a perpetual benefit for the horse industry. Those fat cats are fat enough without having more money shoveled to them. They should not be guaranteed a controlling interest in the profits from casino gambling. Government should not be picking winners and losers like that, and even if it should be, there is no reason that wealthy participants in a failing, dying sport should get help ahead of, say, industries that produce useful products, or employ Americans instead of all those illegal aliens involved in that industry.
Count me as one supporter of casino gambling who cannot and will not support this amendment because it is a handout to fat cats.