Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Tourist-attracting casinos and slot machines at race tracks were a step
closer to reality when the House gave first-round approval to the idea after
more than a dozen hours of sometimes contentious and emotional debate. The
65-50 vote before dawn Saturday advanced the bill to final action, scheduled
for Monday. House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, a gambling opponent,
said he thinks the votes will hold to send the measure to the Senate. A
bipartisan coalition proposal called for state-owned casinos in Wyandotte
County, Sedgwick County and either Crawford or Cherokee county, plus 2,200
slot machines distributed among three race tracks with wagering, the
Woodlands in Kansas City, Wichita Greyhound Park and the now-closed Camptown
Greyhound Park in Frontenac.
After the coalition plan emerged, lawmakers lined up to offer some 50
amendments, with all but a few voted down. Successful amendments permitted
Dodge City to have a casino and allowed the casino in south-central Kansas
to be in either Sedgwick or Sumner county. A third extended a moratorium on
additional casinos or slots at the tracks from 15 years to 25 years. All
casino locations would have to be approved by voters in the county in which
they're located. Supporters said the state eventually could realize $200
million a year from the casinos and tracks, though it would be about three
years before the casinos would be running. Slots at the tracks could be a
reality within a year. 12-hour debate House Majority Leader Ray Merrick
wasn't
surprised by a debate on the bill, which started at 2 p.m. Friday and ended
about 2:30 a.m. Saturday. "You can't tell people they can't run amendments,"
said Merrick, R-Stilwell. "It shows people had strong feelings."
Many amendments were seen as efforts to weigh the bill down and the flurry
of proposals irritated some lawmakers as the night grew late. "As good as
these amendments are, this is about gaming," said Rep. Tim Owens, R-Overland
Park. "We don't need to sit here all night and listen to everybody's
favorite topics."
The coalition offered its 98-page plan as an amendment to a Senate-passed
bill extending the Kansas Lottery, which is due for renewal this year.
Attaching a gambling measure to a Senate bill means the chamber could
quickly accept it or resolve the issue in a House-Senate negotiating
committee. Supporters noted that Kansans already are gambling. Besides the
lottery and wagering at race tracks, there are casinos in Kansas City, Mo.,
and tribal casinos in Oklahoma near the state line. Also, there are four
American Indian casinos in northeast Kansas.

"It provides a revenue stream for things the state needs. It provides a
leisure activity for a lot of our folks and it keeps money in Kansas," said
Rep. Charles Roth, R-Salina, one of the backers of the coalition plan.

But other House members questioned whether the bill is constitutional,
because the Kansas Constitution requires such gambling to be state-owned and
operated and private developers would be involved under the plan.

They also said casinos and slots at the tracks would create more gambling
addicts - and more broken and bankrupt families.