Bruce Votes for Gambling

State Senator Terry Bruce, a Republican from Hutchinson, vote in March to support expanded gambling, and a lot of people are not pleased that he did so. He says he has gotten quite a bit of email since then, and most of it has been those against the expansion of gambling. Within the 34th district, he says it is about half and half.

He says that both the public and the legislature are aware that there will be expanded gambling in Kansas, and that time has come. He also says that without his vote of support, and that of Senator Greta Goodwin, they may have negotiated for a different agreement.

The way the bill sits now, Sumner County will likely be eliminated from casino site competition with Sedgwick County. Reno, Kingman, Harvey, Cowley, Sumner, and Butler Counties will all receive a portion of the proceeds from Sedgwick County. He says that Reno County is projected to get somewhere around $500,000 a year maximum.

However, his vote confused many because only three weeks before he voted to approve gambling, he told people that a casino in Wichita would be a bad thing for Reno County. Now he says he thinks that it would be a good idea, and that in the plan are many things that would benefit them greatly. He says that Reno will end up getting a lot of tourist business as people will stop in their town and see both their attractions and their local businesses as they are on their way to see the casino.

Those that don’t want the gambling brought in say that the amount quoted – up to $500,000 is not enough money to bring in the problems and social costs that a casino will bring in. They say that in the grand scheme of things, half a million dollars a year is “a pretty trivial amount” compared to the amount of gambling addiction that will be coming in.

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