There are only two ways left to stop them: 1) Gov. Bevin can do it; and 2) The Family Foundation’s 8-year-and-counting court case.
The only way to stop the six casinos that have come to Kentucky with their slot-like “historical racing” machines is to have one of the two Branches of government that still have leverage to step up and do the right thing; that would be the Executive Branch or the Judicial Branch.
The most obvious one is the Executive Branch with Gov. Bevin as its head. The Horse Racing Commission is the entity that has been promoting the casinos and it is in the Executive Branch under the governor’s authority. In fact, this is his Horse Racing Commission that he reconstituted after he took the reins of office.
Clearly, Gov. Bevin has blasted an entire other Branch of government — the Judicial Branch — when the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled against his pension reform bill last Fall. If he can speak firmly to them, why can’t he speak firmly to his own Horse Racing Commission to get this wanton expansion of gambling properly in check.
The second institution of government that could make a difference is the Kentucky Supreme Court, as it has been asked to hear the 8-year-old court case that The Family Foundation has engaged with its attorney, Stan Cave.
The case was decided in Franklin Circuit Court last Oct. 24 but the decision was quite nonsensical, stating that “pari-mutuel” horse racing doesn’t need to be “mutual.” That kind of word game is exactly what the gambling proponents have done throughout the case, taking commonly understood concepts and twisting them so they fit into their expanded gambling vocabulary.
The court case could easily take another year of appeals.
Stopping this expansion is critically important for a number of reasons, but one is simply the financial dangers that it poses to the state. When the Family Foundation last battled significant casino efforts in 2009 and 2010, The Foundation brought forth four academic studies from different universities that indicated an average pathological (addicted) gambler cost society $11,304.00, $13,200, $13,585.00 (this third study was by Murray State University) and $19,000.00 annually.
The Kentucky Counsel on Problem Gambling estimated there were 35,000 pathological gamblers in the state at that time. When one multiplies 35,000 times $13,585.00, one gets the TOTAL cost of addicted gamblers to society each year. That number comes to over $475,000,000.00. That’s $475 million dollars annually!
Call 1-502-564-2611 Call & leave this message with the Governor’s receptionist: “Please, Gov. Bevin, act NOW to stop the ‘Historic Racing’ casinos.”
