Saturday, March 24, 2007

Casinos and slot machines are again front and center in the Kansas
Legislature, and their fate - for this year anyway - could be decided
Friday. Frustrated pro-gambling lawmakers forced the issue into the open
Wednesday, getting it to the House floor. Debate on three bills is set for
Friday. "I expect it to be a full-body fight," said Rep. Arlen Siegfreid,
Olathe Republican and chairman of the panel that has studied gambling this
session. Details are murky, but any plan almost certainly would include a
casino for Wyandotte County and possibly slot machines at horse and dog
tracks. "My feeling is, the House would pass gaming," said Rep. Charles
Roth, a Salina Republican who used an obscure House rule to force gambling
to the forefront. Even if the House approves a gambling bill, it would face
challenges in the Senate. That is where a gambling bill failed last year by
a narrow margin. Right now, the state gets no gambling revenue, even though
thousands of Kansans travel to tribal casinos within the state or one of
several casinos just across the Missouri and Oklahoma borders. Proponents of
expanded gambling - including Gov. Kathleen Sebelius - say the state could
allow more casinos and use the revenue as an alternative to taxes. Yet
despite support, the gambling issue has never won out in Kansas. Many
lawmakers object for moral reasons, arguing the state should not use a
potentially addictive behavior to shore up its budget. And groups supporting
gambling often fight among themselves over details ofproposals. Most
gambling proposals this year would limit casinos to Wyandotte County,
southeast Kansas and possibly Wichita. Some plans would allow slot machines
at dog and horse tracks. Most would require voters in affected counties to
approve gambling referendums if they have not already. After the gambling
operator takes its cut, revenue would be split between local and state
government. Depending on the plan, the state's share would pay for tax cuts,
university maintenance or the state employee retirement plan. None of the
bills up for debate Friday would, as currently written, allow expanded
gambling. But lawmakers often use unrelated bills as "vehicles" for
proposals that didn't get out of legislative committees. It works as long as
the original bill's subject is similar enough to the amendment. Of the three
potential gambling bills, one calls for a legislative study on gambling's
economic impact. Another would renew the state lottery. The third gambling
bill is a constitutional amendment that would remove the state
constitutional requirement that all gambling be state-owned.