{Frankfort, Kentucky}...The Senate State and Local Government Committee voted 7-4 Wednesday, approving a measure to allow casinos to be built in Kentucky. Republican state Senator Damon Thayer of Georgetown, a horse industry consultant who is sponsoring the legislation, made some last minute changes so that the proposal no longer requires up to five of the proposed casinos to be built at race tracks. New language allows up to seven casinos in the state with no assurance that they would be built at horse tracks. Some lawmakers had objected to a constitutional guarantee that horse tracks would get casinos, arguing that no specific industry should be written into the state’s Constitution. If the constitutional amendment passes in the General Assembly, it would be placed on the November ballot for voters to ratify or reject.
