In a special session, Arkansas legislators passed and Governor Mike Beebe said he will sign a bill preventing keno from starting until March 13, 2015. The Arkansas Lottery Commission had approved a fall start for the game, featuring draws every six minutes that players could track on monitors. The commission, which has been under pressure to reverse declining sales, projected the keno games would generate .5 million in tickets, creating .8 million in revenue for college scholarships.
The proposal is a moratorium, not an outright ban, on the expanded gambling. State Senator Jimmy Hickey, who proposed the ban then modified it to a moratorium, stated he believed the monitor games are no different than the video lottery terminals that are barred by law. “We don’t feel that when the public voted this in in 2008, they would have made a distinction,” Hickey said. He modified the proposal to gain the support of House leaders who said they wanted to discuss the games in the next regular legislative session. “We will have to address it at that point or they would be allowed to continue on with whatever is legal for them to do,” Hickey said.
House Speaker Davy Carter also said he preferred to consider the issue in a regular session. “To me it seems the wisest thing to do is to just stop it all and let everybody regroup and have a real debate in a real general session,” Carter said, adding he believed there is widespread opposition to the lottery adding the monitor games.
Lottery Director Bishop Woosley said the moratorium would give lottery officials time to explain to lawmakers why they want to add the games.
The amended proposal “at least gives us the opportunity to visit the legislature regarding it, so that is the preferable option obviously,” he said.
