After over 13 hours of debate, the House voted to advance to final action a comprehensive expanded gambling bill Friday. The debate, which ended at nearly 2:30 a.m. early Saturday morning, was on an amendment offered to a bill that did nothing more than extend the life of the Kansas Lottery, which is scheduled to sunset July 1, 2008. The amendment was over 100 pages in length and had never had a hearing in committee, so only those who had been working behind closed doors on the proposal knew exactly what was in the bill. In fact, at a caucus called to discuss the proposal, even the carrier of the amendment was unable to answer many questions raised by legislative members. Nevertheless, there were a block of about 65 votes that had been lined up among Democrats and moderate Republicans sufficient to pass the measure and fight off dozens of amendments aimed at improving the proposal from the standpoint of good public policy.
Gambling interests and their lobbyists claimed they had picked up between 8-10 pro-gambling legislators as a result of the November election and they appear to have been right. The bill, which will be on final action this morning in the House, would then go to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain since the Senate composition hasn’t changed since it last voted down expanded gambling.
The bill would allow destination casinos in Wyandotte Co., one in either Sedgwick or Sumner Counties and one in either Cherokee or Crawford Counties in Southeast Kansas, subject to a vote of the residents in those counties only. While expanded gaming substantially affects contiguous counties, they would be denied a voice. Minimum investment in the destination casinos would be $225M, although an amendment added to the bill would allow a casino in Ford County with as little as a $50M investment. The entities getting the casino management contracts would have to pay an up-front privilege fee of $25M for each location, with the Ford County privilege fee being $5M. Slot machines would be allowed at the racetracks at the Woodlands in Wyandotte County, the Wichita Greyhound Park and at Camptown racetrack, near Pittsburg, which has been closed for some time.
In my opinion and the opinion of other attorney members of the Legislature, the proposal is unconstitutional. In 1986 the voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing for a state owned and operated lottery. Voters also approved the regulation, licensing and taxation of horse and dog racing and pari-mutuel wagering. The tracks are state regulated but not state owned and operated. The lottery, however, must be state owned and operated. The expanded gambling proposal attempts to expand the state lottery to allow casinos but language in the bill makes it obvious that the state would not be operating the casinos. The state would enter into management contracts with casino operators. This would be in direct violation of the constitutional requirement that lottery-type games be both owned and operated by the state. A 1994 Attorney General’s Opinion made it clear that the word “operate” is the same as the word “manage” and that a state owned and operated lottery or casino must be owned as well as directly controlled or managed by the state. If the bill passes there will certainly be a legal challenge.