House Committee In Kentucky Approves Gambling Bill

For at least one day, Governor Steve Beshear can feel like he has won the battle to bring expanded gambling to Kentucky racetracks. On Thursday, a House Committee passed a Bill that would expand slot gambling at the tracks.

That is the good news for Beshear. The other part of the good news is that the full House is expected to vote on the legislation on Friday. It may be meaningless, however.

With all of that good news also comes the news that the Senate has no intentions of passing the Bill. They made it seem like the House was even wasting their time voting on it, because the Senate is prepared to shoot it down.

"The slots Bill, you can stick a fork in it," said Senate President David Williams, "It's done." The remarks were made in response to the joy that House Speaker Greg Stumbo showed over the slots Bill. Stumbo believes, however, the Bill must be passed.

"It's such an important matter that needs to be debated," said Stumbo, "It's time we debated this Bill." Williams gave all indications that the Senate wanted no part of a discussion involving the expanded slot gambling.

Instead, Williams and the rest of the Senate would like to pass one Bill, that is all-inclusive to deal with the budget issue. He indicated several different ways that revenue could still be gained from existing gambling avenues.

One way the Senate has proposed is to tax bets that are made in other states that involve races at Kentucky racetracks. The other idea is to impose a ten percent tax on lottery tickets.

June 19, 2009
Posted By Terry Goodwin
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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