Two state senators in Kentucky, despite nearly a decade of failed legislative attempts to legalize casino gambling, are once again trying the constitutional route to bring casinos to the Bluegrass State.
Democratic Senator Morgan McGarvey and Republican Senator Julie Raque Adams have proposed a constitutional amendment that would legalize casinos and dedicate 90 percent of the state revenue generated by casino gambling to Kentucky’s underfunded state pensions.
The other 10 percent of gaming revenues would go to Kentucky’s horse racing tracks to boost purses, a move for which owners of the state’s storied tracks have begged for years as Kentucky became surrounded by states with racetracks bolstered by slot-machine revenues.
In unveiling the measure at a news conference in Louisville, McGarvey and Kent Oyler, president and CEO of Louisville’s chamber of commerce, Louisville, Inc., made the same argument brought forth repeatedly in the eight years of former Governor Steve Beshear’s administration—that gambling dollars flowing to Kentucky’s surrounding states should be permitted to stay in the state.
“When it comes to gaming, reasonable minds can differ, but gaming is already here,” said McGarvey. “Eighty percent of Kentuckians live within an hour of a casino. We just have to choose if we want to benefit from it.”
Added Oyler, “Every year the commonwealth continues to see hundreds of millions of dollars flow across state lines in gaming revenue, $546 million to be exact. These are dollars that could be going toward our state deficit and our significant pension obligations.”
To get on the 2016 election ballot, the a constitutional amendment would need a three-fifths majority of each house of the state legislature, and a signature from Governor Matthew Bevin, who is on record as opposing placing a gaming measure on the ballot. Most observers acknowledge that the senators’ proposal is a long shot.
Beshear had vowed in his gubernatorial campaign to get casino gambling passed, but was unable to convince legislators to pass any gambling measures despite bills being introduced in 17 straight legislative sessions. None of the measures even came to a vote.
