Kentucky Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andy Beshear is campaigning on a pro-casino platform for the state, while incumbent Republican Governor Matt Bevin says a gambling proposal is a “sucker’s bet.”

Kentucky is one of the most anti-gambling states in the U.S., but Bashear wants to buck the trend and bring casinos to the state for the huge revenue and employment boosts they bring. Beshear is currently the state’s attorney general, and he wants to change gambling laws to regulate and tax casinos to fund the state’s public pension program.

Unusual Argument

Gov. Bevin is ignoring the huge casino cash windfall that most Republicans worship for a very odd reason. “Every night somewhere in America, somebody takes their life in a casino because they’ve wasted the last semblance of dignity and hope that they had,” Bevin said.

The American Gaming Association responded by saying the governor’s claims were “patently false.” The governor’s Republican peers did not agree with him; they tried to pass a gambling bill last February – which failed to pass.

Meanwhile, Jacqueline Coleman, Bahear’s running mate, headed to neighboring Indiana on a proposition bet. She wanted to illustrate the effect that gambling already had on Kentucky. She placed a $5 sports bet at an Indiana casino, and noticed that many cars in the casino parking lot bore Kentucky license plates.

“While Matt Bevin is making up excuses and false claims, Indiana and our neighboring states continue to steal our revenue,” Bashear said in a statement.

Currently, only pari-mutuel wagering is allowed in Kentucky, home of the Kentucky Derby. Let’s hope that cooler heads will prevail, so Kentucky can get on the casino train.

Analysis

The current governor said “every night….somebody takes their life in a casino…” Let’s get this straight, Guv: they do it right there IN the casino? Just lose their rent money, pull out their guns, and blow their brains out all over the casino carpet? Maybe that’s why the carpets are so psychedelic – to hide the carnage.

Seriously, Guv: Kentucky needs casinos. You’ve got the famous music, chicken, horse race, and booze. Now you need the full triumvirate of Bluegrass, Bourbon, and Betting. And if you won’t bring all that juicy casino cash into your state, someone else will.

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Thomas McCoy was born in Bethesda, Maryland and studied finance at the Kogod School of Business at American University in Washington D.C. before heading to New York and a job as a forex trader on Wall Street. Successful enough to launch his own, online forex trading platform, Thomas has long had a keen interest in the places where the worlds of finance and technology meet. As a prolific blogger, Thomas considers himself an expert on cryptocurrencies, casino asset restructuring, and emerging technologies set to change the way people do business.