LEXINGTON, Ky. — Two key Republican senators said Tuesday they are filing constitutional amendments regarding expanded gambling at Kentucky racetracks.
One proposal by Sen. Damon Thayer of Georgetown would allow a statewide referendum on allowing video-lottery terminals in the seven counties that have racetracks.
The other, offered by Senate President David Williams, would specifically ban such expanded gambling without a constitutional amendment.
“The two amendments, when offered together, will allow the people of Kentucky to resolve this issue that the political figures of Kentucky don’t seem to be able to resolve,” Williams said Tuesday.
But the measures prompted rampant criticism from horse racing officials and Democrats, who accused both men of playing politics with an industry that desperately needs help to keep up with competing states.
“It is time to stop playing politics with the $4 billion horse industry and the 100,000 jobs it provides to Kentuckians, as well as with a state budget in desperate need,” Gov. Steve Beshear said in a statement.
Thayer’s proposal first must win approval by the General Assembly before it could be put to voters, in a statewide referendum, in November 2010. And then, voters in the seven counties with tracks would have to approve a separate, local referendum.
The plan then calls for competitive bidding for the seven potential licenses and would dedicate revenues from the video-lottery terminals — which operate like slot machines and would be part of the state lottery — to the horse industry, the terminal operator and the state.
Williams, R-Burkesville, said he opposes Thayer’s amendment, as he did an earlier proposal that would have allowed video-lottery terminals at racetracks without amending the state constitution. That proposal passed the House and was defeated in a Senate committee during a summer special session.
He said his proposed amendment would make it clear that a vote of the people is needed to expand gaming.
The two amendments, which would require a two-thirds majority in both houses of the General Assembly, would be considered separately.
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Both were criticized by horsemen’s groups after Williams and Thayer presented them to group representatives during a private meeting Tuesday in Lexington.
Senate Democratic Minority Leader Ed Worley of Richmond and Beshear, who campaigned in 2007 for a constitutional amendment to expand gambling, offered similarly scathing criticism.
They accused Thayer and Williams of failing to act quickly enough to help Kentucky’s horse industry, which faces increased competition from states where purses and breeding incentives are bolstered by expanding gambling revenues.
Worley said Thayer’s amendment is “dead on arrival” if it requires the support of all 17 Democrats to get the 23 votes needed to approve an amendment, as Thayer indicated Tuesday.
Don Robinson, president of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, one of the horse industry groups that met with the senators Tuesday, said his group still supports the bill that died during the special session.
“A constitutional amendment again is too little too late,” he said, adding of his industry: “We’re in trouble.”
Robinson said he believes the Senate proposals are an attempt to divide horsemen and racetracks, but he vowed it would not work.
“There won’t be any dividing on this issue,” he said. “It’s too important to all of us.”
David Switzer, executive director of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, said it could be 2012 or 2013 before revenues are produced because of the additional local referendum.
Bill Farish, a Republican who attended the meeting and is general manager of Lane’s End Farm, said the Thayer proposal won’t pass and that the horse industry is united against it.
“It seems that Senate leadership has made the cynical decision to try and put expanded gaming on the ballot in an effort to drive up social conservative turnout in the next election cycle, hoping that the increased turnout will help their Senate candidates,” Farish said in a letter to editors released Monday.
Reporter Gregory A. Hall can be reached at (502) 582-4087.
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