University Daily Kansan / Friday, February 27, 1987
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Gambling odds improve for state
By CHRISTOPHER HINES
Staff writer
A number of actions this week improved the odds of making Kansas a gambling state.
The Kansas House yesterday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would allow pari-mutuel betting in Kansas. And on Wednesday, the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee recommended approval of the state lottery bill to the full Senate.
Also on Wednesday, Attorney General Bob Stephan raised the possibility of the state operating gambling casinos. In a legal opinion, Stephan said the Legislature could legalize lotto games and casino gambling under the state lottery amendment approved by voters last November.
The passage of the gambling laws may improve the state economy, but it also may cause some undesirable effects, a KU sociologist said.
William Arnold, associate professor of sociology, said gambling might inject new elements of crime and corruption into Kansas, changing the character of the state as well as its people.
"Wherever there are large pools of money, people will try and steal it," he said. "My perception is that it is just impossible to keep crime out."
But State Sen. Edward Reilly, R
Leavenworth, chairman of the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee, said good state regulation of the gambling industries would reduce the possibilities for crime. Over-regulation, on the other hand, could kill the budding state industries, he said.
"Crime can get into anything if it wants to bad enough," Reilly said. But it's just another problem that a state with a diverse diversified state has to deal with.
The pari-mutuel bill was passed by the House and sent to the Senate after extended debate on the House floor. In an effort to keep crime out of the proposed horse and dog racing industry, it included a number of amendments.
One of the amendments would require stringent background checks on people working at the tracks. Another would require that nonprofit organizations own and operate the horse and dog ractacks. Nonprofit organizations would include fraternal or veterans organizations or a local government unit such as a county commission.
Some tracks could begin operating in Kansas by late summer or early fall, depending on how quickly they are developed.
The lottery could begin in September or October with a program of
instant prizes. Under the Senate committee's bill, the lottery commission would start July 1 with an initial state-financed start-up fund of $2 to $3 million. The first game would give players a chance to win instantly by uncovering dollar amounts on lottery cards.
Fewer crime problems may develop from the lottery because it will be entirely controlled and operated by the state, Armstrong and Reilly both said. But Armstrong said some Kansans could turn into compulsive gamblers.
"Since gambling will become easier, more people will gamble," he
If the Legislature turns Stephan's opinion into law, Kansers would have yet another place to bet, at state-run gambling casinos.
The Rev. Richard E. Taylor Jr., president of Kansans for Life at Its Best! a temperance organization, said yesterday that he would challenge Stephan's opinion to the Kansas Supreme Court.
"It was not the intention of voters to fall have gambling casinos in Kansas."
But Reilly said, "The attorney general's opinion will stand, and the state has the right to do anything it wants under that decision."
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