LEXINGTON, KY - A proposed constitutional amendment to bring aid to the horse industry through the introduction of video slot machines and a companion proposal to force any and all attempts of expanding gaming to be placed in the constitution were dismissed as shallow political moves by the horse industry.
Sens. David Williams (R-Brecksville) and Damon Thayer (R-Georgetown) spoke for about an hour and a half Tuesday afternoon with members of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association/Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders (KTA/KTOB) about the two amendments. Thayer, a horseman himself, said he would pre-file a bill to allow for seven video slot machine centers around the state, one in each county that currently has horse tracks. The bill, which Senate President Williams said he opposes, would provide $100 million or 25 percent of the slots take annually to race purses and breeders incentives while 25 percent would go to the video slot operators and the remain half to the state government for capital projects or to pay off previously bonded projects.
"We've never had a constitutional amendment get to the floor of either chamber, my goal is to get my amendment to the floor of the Kentucky State Senate and try to pass it and get it on the ballot to let the people decide in November of 2010," Thayer told reporters after the meeting.
The other amendment, brought forth by Williams, would require any attempt at adding types of gambling not already allowed in the state be passed by 60 percent of the state House and Senate as well as by a majority of voters.
Thayer said he feels he could get the required 60 percent of senators - a total of 23 votes - if all of the Senate Democrats were on board. Senate Democratic Leader Ed Worley (Richmond) said any such hope would be "dead on arrival."
Worley and horsemen at the meeting said Thayer's proposal seemed to be a political move to save Republican control of the Senate.
"It's about politics, it's not about addressing the issue," Worley said. "This is about hoping that this industry does not pursue electing people in the state legislature that supports an economic incentive program for their industry that is comparable to what we do for every other major industry in this state."
Bill Farish, general manager of Lane's End Farm said he and other horseman would continue to oppose any legislator who pushed for a constitutional amendment, because the time frame before the industry could start seeing monetary support from the plan was too great.
"The horse industry like every other industry is this state is going to pursue trying to get people elected that agree with our positions," Farish said.
Farish said he and many others in the industry were against Thayer's amendment because it would still require the local option in which county governing bodies would have to place the issue of gaming in the county on the ballot.
"That it would give out of state casinos two shots at defeating it," Farish said.
Following a senate committee vote during a summer special session failed to move a gaming bill on the senate as a whole, pressure began to mount on horse country Republicans who voted against the bill, which would not have required a constitutional amendment.
"I have certainly heard from a lot of people in the horse industry who think I should have been for the House bill back in the session, and they were mostly critical of me because they thought I was ambiguous in my stance. I was surprised of that because I've always said I'm for a constitutional amendment," Thayer said.
Thayer and Williams said any movement like that would actually take longer than a constitutional amendment because it would be tied up in litigation, a notion dismissed by the KTA/KTOB.