Kansas Legislators Looking To Tweak Casino Gambling Laws

The state of Kansas has been largely unsuccessful in their efforts to bring four state-owned casinos to the state. Now, after years of failed attempts to find developers, lawmakers are looking to tweak the 2007 law that legalized the casinos.

Last year, Democratic lawmakers felt that there should have been a discussion about amending the 2007 law, but lawmakers were dealing with the economic crisis and did not have the time to revisit the gambling issue. This session, however, lawmakers are willing to discuss the issue once again.

While some Republican lawmakers understand that the laws will have to be changed slightly, others are playing partisan politics with the Democrats that passed the law. Originally, it took only a week to enact the law, and that angered some Republicans.

"They got the deal they wanted," said Republican House Speaker Mike O'Neal, who is not among the group that wants to revisit the issue, "They can live with the deal they got."

Actually, the Democratic leaders are not intent on living with the deal they got. There are two separate Bills that were introduced in both the Senate and the House that would amend the 2007 law.

The first change would drop the investment requirement of developers from $225 million to $100 million. The up front fee paid to the state would also drop, from $25 million, to $11 million. Lawmakers feel this change is necessary because developers have been strapped for financing since the recession hit.

The other change in the law would give developers more of the profits for the casino they are operating. The track owners for proposed casinos in Kansas City or Camptown greyhound Park would receive fifty-eight percent of the net revenue, as opposed to the forty percent they would receive under the current law.

January 24, 2010
Posted By Tom Jones
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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