Kentucky moves closer to expanded gaming

This is great news...we no longer have to worry about losing revenue to Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia, and possibly Ohio. If Kentuckians reject expanded gaming, we might as well shut down the horse racing industry and the lottery. It's a shame that religious fundamentalists would rather see a Kentucky with horse racing but not casinos. I got news for them: Shut the crap up and don't tell me what to do in my spare time. If I want to gamble, by G-d, I shall gamble. That doesn't mean I'll spend all my money and become an addict like the fundies claim it will. The irony of all this: we have fundamentals saying one thing and then breaking their word and getting caught.

Gov. Steve Beshear said this morning that he will unveil his casino gambling bill next week and that it could generate “several hundred millions of dollars” to supplement the lean state budget he proposed last month.

“We look to file this legislation by the end of next week,” he said after discussing the issue for about 30 minutes with Reps. Joni Jenkins, D-Shively; Darryl Owens, D-Louisville; and Charlie Hoffman, D-Georgetown.

“I’ll be proposing both a constitutional amendment and enabling legislation, and there’ll be various specifics in both,” the governor told reporters. “The enabling legislation will be very specific in terms of how any constitutional amendment will be implemented.”

However, the governor declined to release details until the legislation is final.[...]

“The license fees will be substantial — several hundred millions of dollars — and could certainly make a difference even in the first year of the biennium with many areas such as higher education and human services,” Beshear said.