Kentuck is in the midst of waiting on the long-awaited proposal to open casino gambling within the state of Kentucky, set to be introduced through state Senate within days.
Democratic Governor Steve Beshear and state Senator Damon Thayer have announced that they have both reached an agreement on the wording of the proposed constitutional amendment that would see casino gambling open in the state.
“We will spend the next few days laying the groundwork for its introduction,” Beshear declared in a statement. “We are hopeful that our senators will give this bill the full consideration it deserves, since repeated polls show that Kentuckians are demanding an opportunity to vote on this issue.”
As of recent, the state of Kentucky has only been able to place wagers on horse races. Beshear has had hopes of lifting this constitutional ban on casino gambling and has been attempting to implement methods of integartion into the state for years, further hoping that consistency with neighboring states can be achieved.
Approval of this constitutional amendment would not see casino gambling introduced immeadiately but rather a push for ballot voting in the month of November to support or deny the movement.
“Support for the gambling legislation is collapsing faster than a ten dollar tent in a hurricane,” Cothran said in a statement. “They didn't have the votes to begin with, and now what little support they have is deteriorating by the day.” stated Martin Cothran as a spokesperson for The Family Foundation, who believes that this push towards change is destined to fail.
“I think a lot of people are just fed up with the infighting and lack of action and want to move on to other things,” Cothran also said. Proponents of gambling have been confused over what is necessarily the best action to take when proposing this amendment. There is concern and confusion over how many casinos will open and where.
Senator Tom Buford said that proponents have also been weighing different proposals and are unsure over differences. One sees the call for two-standing casinos and four tied to existing horse tracks, with another having no restrictions or limitations on the number of casinos or locations allocated.
The horse industry within Kentucky which has seen the most benefit over the past few years sees the introduction of casino gambling as a method of expansion for the industry. It is their hopes that the increase in casino gambling could help push more punters towards horse racing and help growth of the industry within the state.
Since the beginning of Beshear's gubernational campain, gambling has been much of a hot topic, with his election enforced by promises of reform and expansion of gambling opportunities in state, a promise that seems to only have been attempted this year since its beginnings in 2007
[Source: Chicago Tribune]
