Kentucky Still Making Up Their Minds

February 24, 2009

Kentucky is trying to decide what kind of gambling they want and what they don’t want, and in the process seems to be confusing everyone around them. The state has been in the news a lot for trying to stop online poker playing and gambling in their state by seizing the domain names of roughly 140 online poker and gambling sites. Then they announced that they were going to look at expanding gambling within their state leaving a lot of people confused.

The House Licensing and Occupations Committee has approved a plan that would expand gambling at the state’s racetracks. Video gambling terminals will now be at the tracks if the bill is approved as it goes forward. House Speaker Greg Stumbo says that he doesn’t, however, think that the bill is going to pass because it doesn’t have the support that it needs.

They have allowed themselves about a month and a half to get it through, but in that time a lot can happen. The state will assuredly want to wait to see if their court case against the online poker and gambling sites will find them triumphant. They can then move forward with their plan for expansion.

Originally Governor Steve Beshear was able to seize the domain names, but then the court threw it out, and now they are appealing. He originally said that the online poker and gambling sites were a danger to the residents and children in his state because they would develop addictions to gambling. However, when he then turned around and tried expanding gambling in his state many were curious as to how his argument fit in with his new plans.