By RICK ALM
Columnist
It’s no surprise the Kansas Senate killed Senate Bill 587 last week, though it died for all the wrong reasons.
Drafted in back-room bargaining sessions, the bill would have established the nation’s first state-owned casinos. And they would have been regulated by a Byzantine gaggle of old and new state boards and agencies.
In addition to the disquieting ethics of the state owning, operating and regulating its own gambling parlors, financial records of these public casinos would have been closed to public review.
There were 71 pages of other reasons to not like this unprecedented measure, but the bill’s flaws drew alarmingly little critical attention.
Instead, it was the Senate’s anti-gambling contingent that, as usual, stood firm and rejected SB 587, just as it has rejected every legalized gambling bill for 13 years. This time, however, pro-gambling Kansans owe them a round of applause for giving the state one more chance to get it right.
So now what?
The state could push forward proposed agreements with Kansas tribes to establish off-reservation casinos in urban areas. But most observers agree the tribal option is probably a futile exercise in the face of growing congressional resistance to off-reservation gambling.
Kansas might press its luck and expand the state’s bingo industry with Class II slot machines, whose mathematical formulae are based purely on bingo odds. The Iowa Lottery launched something similar a couple of years ago, with electronic pull-tab games. Last week, however, the Iowa Legislature finally had enough and outlawed the slot look-alike games after watching their ubiquitous spread to more than 2,200 venues including taverns, bowling alleys and grocer stores.
There’s only one clean answer to Kansas’ gambling quandary.
Lawmakers should let the people vote on a constitutional amendment to legalize commercial gambling. Constitutional or statutory language could easily restrict the activity to urban areas, just as Missouri law restricts casinos to the state’s river waterways.
If voters approved, Kansas could join the nation’s mainstream gambling community, rather than continually revisiting tortured alternatives in an attempt to get around the state constitution.
Debating ill-conceived measures such as SB 587 dithered away more than a decade’s worth of potential casino tax dollars. Today, that money is desperately needed to meet the Kansas Supreme Court’s order for hundreds of millions of dollars in additional school money.
Kansas may have finally reached the end game in its long debate over gambling. And in the end, it should be Kansas voters who decide whether to pay some of their big school bill through the voluntary taxation of legalized gambling.
Charity bandits
“Bandits” from Argosy Riverside Casino and other area firms recently collected more than $55,000 for the Children’s Miracle Network and two local hospitals.
Argosy workers and volunteers from several area businesses played bandit for weeks, “sticking up” family, friends and co-workers for their spare change. More than 250 recently showed up at Argosy to count their loot at a banquet to benefit the charity, the University of Kansas Medical Center and Children’s Mercy Hospital.
Argosy’s banquet employees also donated their tips from the event.
Corporate contributors and volunteer partners included Costco Wholesale, the Greater Kansas City Credit Union’s For Kids programs, Miracles Salon and Boutique, Anderson Restaurant Group, PB&J Restaurants, Outback Steakhouse, Southwest Airlines and RE/MAX.
Argosy also recently selected its first employees of the year — security worker Larry Miller and beverage manager Ali Hashemy.
The casino called it their “Having Fun Creating Fun Award.” Monthly prizes were awarded and the top winners get $500 plus an all-expense-paid one-week vacation for two to Las Vegas, Orlando or various resort cities in Mexico.
Cornhusker casinos?
Nebraskans are flirting with casino gambling, again.
The Associated Press reports two petition efforts are under way seeking voter approval of a tribal gambling parlor in the Omaha area and another for a casino in each of the state’s three Congressional districts.
Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming Corp., owner of the former Sam’s Town Casino in Kansas City, is pushing the latter proposal. The Winnebago, Santee Sioux and Omaha tribes propose a jointly owned, off-reservation casino. A third petition drive seeks to expand keno play.
The casino issues hinge on a pending ruling whether the proposals violate a state constitutional limit on similar ballot questions to once every three years. Voters rejected a casino plan in 2004.
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To reach Rick Alm, call (816) 234-4785 or send e-mail to ralm@kcstar.com
Columnist
It’s no surprise the Kansas Senate killed Senate Bill 587 last week, though it died for all the wrong reasons.
Drafted in back-room bargaining sessions, the bill would have established the nation’s first state-owned casinos. And they would have been regulated by a Byzantine gaggle of old and new state boards and agencies.
In addition to the disquieting ethics of the state owning, operating and regulating its own gambling parlors, financial records of these public casinos would have been closed to public review.
There were 71 pages of other reasons to not like this unprecedented measure, but the bill’s flaws drew alarmingly little critical attention.
Instead, it was the Senate’s anti-gambling contingent that, as usual, stood firm and rejected SB 587, just as it has rejected every legalized gambling bill for 13 years. This time, however, pro-gambling Kansans owe them a round of applause for giving the state one more chance to get it right.
So now what?
The state could push forward proposed agreements with Kansas tribes to establish off-reservation casinos in urban areas. But most observers agree the tribal option is probably a futile exercise in the face of growing congressional resistance to off-reservation gambling.
Kansas might press its luck and expand the state’s bingo industry with Class II slot machines, whose mathematical formulae are based purely on bingo odds. The Iowa Lottery launched something similar a couple of years ago, with electronic pull-tab games. Last week, however, the Iowa Legislature finally had enough and outlawed the slot look-alike games after watching their ubiquitous spread to more than 2,200 venues including taverns, bowling alleys and grocer stores.
There’s only one clean answer to Kansas’ gambling quandary.
Lawmakers should let the people vote on a constitutional amendment to legalize commercial gambling. Constitutional or statutory language could easily restrict the activity to urban areas, just as Missouri law restricts casinos to the state’s river waterways.
If voters approved, Kansas could join the nation’s mainstream gambling community, rather than continually revisiting tortured alternatives in an attempt to get around the state constitution.
Debating ill-conceived measures such as SB 587 dithered away more than a decade’s worth of potential casino tax dollars. Today, that money is desperately needed to meet the Kansas Supreme Court’s order for hundreds of millions of dollars in additional school money.
Kansas may have finally reached the end game in its long debate over gambling. And in the end, it should be Kansas voters who decide whether to pay some of their big school bill through the voluntary taxation of legalized gambling.
Charity bandits
“Bandits” from Argosy Riverside Casino and other area firms recently collected more than $55,000 for the Children’s Miracle Network and two local hospitals.
Argosy workers and volunteers from several area businesses played bandit for weeks, “sticking up” family, friends and co-workers for their spare change. More than 250 recently showed up at Argosy to count their loot at a banquet to benefit the charity, the University of Kansas Medical Center and Children’s Mercy Hospital.
Argosy’s banquet employees also donated their tips from the event.
Corporate contributors and volunteer partners included Costco Wholesale, the Greater Kansas City Credit Union’s For Kids programs, Miracles Salon and Boutique, Anderson Restaurant Group, PB&J Restaurants, Outback Steakhouse, Southwest Airlines and RE/MAX.
Argosy also recently selected its first employees of the year — security worker Larry Miller and beverage manager Ali Hashemy.
The casino called it their “Having Fun Creating Fun Award.” Monthly prizes were awarded and the top winners get $500 plus an all-expense-paid one-week vacation for two to Las Vegas, Orlando or various resort cities in Mexico.
Cornhusker casinos?
Nebraskans are flirting with casino gambling, again.
The Associated Press reports two petition efforts are under way seeking voter approval of a tribal gambling parlor in the Omaha area and another for a casino in each of the state’s three Congressional districts.
Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming Corp., owner of the former Sam’s Town Casino in Kansas City, is pushing the latter proposal. The Winnebago, Santee Sioux and Omaha tribes propose a jointly owned, off-reservation casino. A third petition drive seeks to expand keno play.
The casino issues hinge on a pending ruling whether the proposals violate a state constitutional limit on similar ballot questions to once every three years. Voters rejected a casino plan in 2004.
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To reach Rick Alm, call (816) 234-4785 or send e-mail to ralm@kcstar.com