Kansas casinos get OK from Senate
By DAVID KLEPPER
The Star’s Topeka correspondent
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TOPEKA | After years of often bitter debate in the Kansas Legislature, Wyandotte County will get its casino.

After midnight, the Kansas Senate approved a historic gambling bill authorizing casinos in Kansas City, Kan., Wichita, Dodge City and southeast Kansas, as well as slot machines at race tracks.

Thirty-nine of 40 Senators had voted as of midnight, holding open the vote for one lawmaker who wasn’t present. The final vote was 21-19. A final procedural challenge was mounted but fell short.

The bill passed the House on Monday, and Senate approval sends it to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who has already voiced support for the proposal.

It was a narrow but stunning victory for supporters, who waged a 12-hour filibuster in the Senate to keep the bill breathing. Until the vote, the critical 21st vote seemed impossibly elusive, much as it had been in years past.

“It was a long time coming,” said Sen. Jim Barone, a Frontenac Democrat. “But as in life, all good things are worth waiting for, and this is a good, good thing.”

For opponents, it was a bitter defeat, and one they said will haunt the state in years to come. They predicted more crime, gambling addiction and bankruptcies as money is siphoned to casinos.

“You are forever changing the face and culture of Kansas,” said Sen. Karin Brownlee, an Olathe Republican, who called her no vote the most important vote she had ever cast. “I can’t do that.”

In addition to the casinos in Wyandotte County, near Wichita and Dodge City, and in southeast Kansas, the bill allows 2,200 slot machines divided among dog and horse tracks in those areas.

While state-owned, the gambling operations will be run by private groups. Local and state government gets a share of the revenue. Money would be set aside for gambling addiction programs.

The state’s revenue share — 22 percent of casino revenue or estimated to be as much as $200 million a year — would go into a fund to address long-term needs such as debt reduction, infrastructure, property tax relief and state employee retirement. The state now sees no revenue from the four Indian tribal casinos within the state.

The gambling proposal was attached to a bill renewing the Kansas lottery, which gave it an added significance. A defeat for the bill would have eliminated the lottery and forced lawmakers to resurrect it with another bill.

All day Wednesday, it appeared a legislative impasse would again doom prospects for gambling this year. Opponents of the bill tried to force a vote in the Senate, believing the votes wouldn’t be there to pass it. Supporters, themselves nervous, mounted a nearly 12-hour filibuster designed to stall for time.

Opponents argued the state shouldn’t use an addictive behavior as a revenue generator, that more gambling would siphon money from local businesses, and that at the very least, the state should get a bigger cut of casino revenue.

The filibuster by supporters, while perhaps not a record, easily topped the last notable filibuster, a seven hour speech in 1988 by former Rep. Kerry Patrick, a Leawood Republican.

Wednesday’s filibuster featured Sen. David Haley, a Kansas City, Kan., Democrat touting the economic effect of a casino in Wyandotte County. Sen. Chris Steineger, a Kansas City, Kan., Democrat, spoke about how Kansans already gamble at the state’s tribal casinos and in Missouri and Oklahoma.

And Sen. David Wysong, a Mission Hills Republican, read the rules of card games and lamented the departure of the Big 12 tournament from Kansas City.

As the deadlock dragged on, lawmakers left briefly to eat and shower. Frustrations grew.

“It’s a mess," said Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt. “I suppose a pessimist could say it’s a gruesome procedural knot. But the optimist might look at this and see Democracy at its finest.”

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To reach David Klepper, call (785) 354-1388 or send e-mail to dklepper@kcstar.com.

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