This bill would place the casinos under the Lottery with a governing board of 12 members. It provides for video lottery machines (slots) but no table games. A twelve person governing board would manage it. Local option elections would have to be held. The counties with tracks would all be eligible with the possible exception of KY Downs. Three additional counties with large populations would also be eligible, although two of them are very close to tracks. There is no mention of the Constitution which prohibits gambling games other than pari-mutuel racing.

Given the history, the L & O Committee will probably report the bill favorably. With no budget ... Read More »]]> Efforts to get slots at the tracks in Kentucky did not go away long. A new bill, HB 468, has been proposed in the House, and sent to the Licensing and Occupations Committee.

This bill would place the casinos under the Lottery with a governing board of 12 members. It provides for video lottery machines (slots) but no table games. A twelve person governing board would manage it. Local option elections would have to be held. The counties with tracks would all be eligible with the possible exception of KY Downs. Three additional counties with large populations would also be eligible, although two of them are very close to tracks. There is no mention of the Constitution which prohibits gambling games other than pari-mutuel racing.

Given the history, the L & O Committee will probably report the bill favorably. With no budget bill and not too many remaining days, the House may not take up this bill, but you never know. You wonder if the tracks are not losing friends with the never ending efforts to gain “welfare for the wealthy,” as Martin Cothran describes it.

The bill was defeated 21-16, with the 16 “yes” votes falling far below the required 23 for passage.

Read the Herald-Leader’s analysis and Stumbo’s comments.

An article in today’s Courier-Journal further acknowledges that supporters know the bill is dead for now, but they are determined to bring it back again soon.

Check out Paul Davies’ insightful article on the vote.

LEXINGTON, KY—The Family Foundation today blasted Gov. Steve Beshear for blaming other people for the defeat of a constitutional amendment to expand gambling in the state. “The governor has only himself to blame for the defeat of his bill,” said Martin Cothran, referring to Thursday’s 21-16 defeat of SB 151. “The governor needs to stop blaming Senate President David Williams and take a look at his own incompetent legislative strategy.”

Cothran criticized the proponents who said they were going to try to defeat state senators who opposed the bill. “If the casino interests really want to improve their chances to pass expanded gambling legislation, they don’t need to replace David Williams and Republican senators; they need to replace Steve Beshear.”

“David Williams didn’t need to do anything to kill this bill. All he had ... Read More »]]> For Immediate Release
February 25, 2012
Contact: Martin Cothran
Phone: (859) 329-1919

LEXINGTON, KY—The Family Foundation today blasted Gov. Steve Beshear for blaming other people for the defeat of a constitutional amendment to expand gambling in the state. “The governor has only himself to blame for the defeat of his bill,” said Martin Cothran, referring to Thursday’s 21-16 defeat of SB 151. “The governor needs to stop blaming Senate President David Williams and take a look at his own incompetent legislative strategy.”

Cothran criticized the proponents who said they were going to try to defeat state senators who opposed the bill. “If the casino interests really want to improve their chances to pass expanded gambling legislation, they don’t need to replace David Williams and Republican senators; they need to replace Steve Beshear.”

“David Williams didn’t need to do anything to kill this bill. All he had to do was sit back and watch Beshear self-destruct. This is one of the worst handled legislative initiatives I’ve seen in 20 years in Frankfort,” said Cothran, spokesman for the group.

“We have a governor who apparently can’t count votes,” said Cothran, who publicly announced over three weeks ago that the bill did not have the support to pass. “We knew weeks ago that this bill didn’t have the votes. You’re telling me the governor didn’t know that?” He said Beshear, who said publicly he had 23 votes, either knew the bill didn’t have votes and was misleading the public or he just wasn’t competent enough to know what the votes were.

The governor’s bill couldn’t even garner the support of all the Democrats. “Four members of his own party voted against it. So how is that Williams’ fault?”

Cothran said Beshear’s incompetent handling of the bill alienated even supporters of casino gambling, and pointed to the fact that even the past president of KEEP couldn’t support it. “If you can’t even get the support of Brereton Jones, then you need to go back and get some remedial training in legislative politics.”

“This bill wasn’t even unveiled until four weeks into the session, and the reception was so bad the governor had to announce the same day that he was going to have to change it. They didn’t even begin airing commercials until less than a week before the vote.”

“Kentuckians don’t want monopolies for rich corporations and neither do most legislators.”

LEXINGTON, KY—The Family Foundation said that today’s vote on SB151 was a “stake through the heart” of the effort to change the constitution to expand gambling in Kentucky. The bill died in a 21-16 vote of the full State Senate.

“Today’s vote was not only a rejection of constitutional favors for fat cats,” said Martin Cothran, spokesman for the group. “It was a bi-partisan repudiation of the very idea that a rich industry should be able to engrave its name on our state’s most important governing document.”

In response to the “let the people decide” rhetoric of bill proponents, Cothran said, “In America’s republican form of democracy, people make decisions through their elected officials. Today the people did decide.”

Cothran, who had declared the bill dead three weeks ago, referenced the coroner of Munchkin City ... Read More »]]> For Immediate Release
February 23, 2012
Contact: Martin Cothran
Phone: (859) 329-1919

LEXINGTON, KY—The Family Foundation said that today’s vote on SB151 was a “stake through the heart” of the effort to change the constitution to expand gambling in Kentucky. The bill died in a 21-16 vote of the full State Senate.

“Today’s vote was not only a rejection of constitutional favors for fat cats,” said Martin Cothran, spokesman for the group. “It was a bi-partisan repudiation of the very idea that a rich industry should be able to engrave its name on our state’s most important governing document.”

In response to the “let the people decide” rhetoric of bill proponents, Cothran said, “In America’s republican form of democracy, people make decisions through their elected officials. Today the people did decide.”

Cothran, who had declared the bill dead three weeks ago, referenced the coroner of Munchkin City from the movie “The Wizard of Oz”: “This bill is not only nearly dead, it is really most sincerely dead.”

Cothran said this was good because he had run out of metaphors.

Read the LA Times article here.

Even the Thoroughbred industry recognizes that casinos are a bad idea for the state as a whole–with the exception of generating revenue for the tracks. Since studies have proven that slots players don’t cross over to bet on horses, while horse players will cross over to play slots, and we know that there’s only so much gambling money to go around, this seems pretty short-sighted to us.

Read the full article in the Herald-Leader here.