Governor Approves Gambling

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has signed a law into legislation that four state owned casinos and three racetrack slot machine parlors will now have a chance at becoming legal. She said that the four state owned casinos would be located in Kansas City, Wichita, Dodge City and Southwestern Kansas. Then 2,200 slot machines would be divided between the three racetracks near Kansas City, Wichita and Dodge City – with the total number of slot machines coming to 2,800 in the end.

However positive that might seem for the slot machine and gambling industry, there are still local referendums in the cities and counties that are looking to be housing these slot machines. The voters will have the final say on whether or not they want them to come in, and experts are not sure how to predict the outcome.

They say that it is possible for voters to go across state lines to Missouri to go to one of their casinos, and that this may be enough for most voters. But even so, many do not want to see slot machines brought into their state, and lawmakers are among them. Many of them were disappointed that the governor would sign the bill, as they didn’t want to see them legalized either.

The state’s Attorney General is challenging the legalization, as he is waiting for a determination from the state Supreme Court to determine if it is constitutional for the slot machines to be legalized. Neighboring states and casino owners are equally as displeased as it will take money from them – they are hoping that voters will choose not to legalize the slot machines because their revenue would suffer from it.

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