Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear to 'aggressively' push gambling

[doomer]

Sure, why not, but why stop there. Legalize prostitution, then tax that heavily. And legalize marijuana and tax that heavily. Who cares...let's legalize it, so we can rake in the dough. If revenue is the highest priority, let's not hold back. I mean, to hold back would be silly, why leave money on table with just casino gambling. Let's be cutting edge and make our state the one everyone would want to come to and spend. Then some day when more families are destroyed and peoples lives are a wreck due to addictions, families breaking up over gambling away the weekly paycheck, and the society as a whole goes deeper in bondage, it will be fine, who cares because at that point we will have plenty of money.

 

Sorry folks for the attitude. I just know to many people personally, and have counseled with some that have had their lives and families torn apart by going to Indiana for some casino gambling. Yep, started out fun, but ended up in bankruptcies, divorce or their children going without some food and other necessities. Way to personal for me, and it makes me way too angry. Honestly, I would rather lose money, than to see what happened/happens to these families. But it looks like I am the minority on this thread- and I am ok with that. I am a "vote of the people" guy, but this one, I can't understand why we would even want. Beyond revenue, jobs money, it is more destructive to our citizens/families than it is helpful.

 

I will side with you on this one. a) someone will have to educate me as tho how casinos in Kentucky would really benfit horse racing....seems the opposite. b) having lost a friend (suicide) as a result of gambling debts; and c) wouldn't we better off facing those issues that are keeping manufacuring jobs out of Kentucky....ie "right-to'work" if we want to improve our financial situation AND quality of life.

[TripleSevens]

I will side with you on this one. a) someone will have to educate me as tho how casinos in Kentucky would really benfit horse racing....seems the opposite. b) having lost a friend (suicide) as a result of gambling debts; and c) wouldn't we better off facing those issues that are keeping manufacuring jobs out of Kentucky....ie "right-to'work" if we want to improve our financial situation AND quality of life.

 

Thanks doomer.

[Bert]

I will side with you on this one. a) someone will have to educate me as tho how casinos in Kentucky would really benfit horse racing....seems the opposite. b) having lost a friend (suicide) as a result of gambling debts; and c) wouldn't we better off facing those issues that are keeping manufacuring jobs out of Kentucky....ie "right-to'work" if we want to improve our financial situation AND quality of life.

 

You believe if the state does allow gambling that would prevent the state from encouraging manufacturing jobs in KY? I would certainly hope the state can address both of those tasks.

[TripleSevens]

^ I am sure that "path of self destruction" argument will be made by opponents to gambling. And it will be true for some individuals. I don't like gambling. There is nothing productive or positive to society in gambling. But gambling will not destroy the state. All the people that want to make that argument have to do is look all around us. Our neighboring states have gambling and they are not societal cesspools.

 

Yes, that is what I am saying.

 

I will re post what I posted earlier...

 

keeping casinos out of KY is not the answer, but putting casinos in KY is not helping with issues beyond money.

 

Again, since gambling does nothing positive or productive for a society, beyond money, why is it that important?...Unless money is most important.

[doomer]

You believe if the state does allow gambling that would prevent the state from encouraging manufacturing jobs in KY? I would certainly hope the state can address both of those tasks.

 

 

Good question....you are right, they should not be mutually exclusive options. My personal priority set would be jobs over gambling, but I don't see that to be the case with what is going on in Frankfort.

[TripleSevens]

^ I am sure that "path of self destruction" argument will be made by opponents to gambling. And it will be true for some individuals. I don't like gambling. There is nothing productive or positive to society in gambling. But gambling will not destroy the state. All the people that want to make that argument have to do is look all around us. Our neighboring states have gambling and they are not societal cesspools.

 

Yes, I agree and that is one point I have made. Sure, society already has its social problems. The question I ask is this...Is casino gambling going to help those existing problems by strengthening people and families, have no influence, or make societal problems worse and run deeper?

 

My opinion is simply, the third choice. Opening casino's will allow for those citizens, who would not gamble otherwise, to be drawn to an attractive and marketed facility, and begin gambling, something that is proven potentially become addictive and unhealthy for some people. In other words, it would tend to make our existing societal problems worse. That being said, I AM NOT saying casinos would be the direct reason for a cesspool mess.

 

Here is how I put it in an earlier post...

 

keeping casinos out of KY is not the answer, but putting casinos in KY is not helping with issues beyond money.

 

Again, since gambling does nothing positive or productive for a society, and in my opinion the best it can do beyond financial gain for a company and the state, is make matters worse on society, why is it that important? Is money/state income more important than making societal issues worse?

 

Someone said to look at Indiana and other states to see that gambling has not caused any society problems. It would be interesting to see before and after averages of suicide rates, bankruptcies, divorce, and theft in those counties and neighboring counties. Did they go from bad to worse, and get swept under the rug, because...well, we were making a lot of money and having a good time?

[TripleSevens]

Sorry gang, I have two response posts to VOR. The first one I thought I was editing and adding more thoughts, but I actually posted it. Go with my latest, it is saying more thoroughly what I wanted to say in the first response. Sorry for the confusion...if a moderator wants to delete my first shorter response to VOR, they may. The second response above is the one I'll go with.

[SSC]

I will side with you on this one. a) someone will have to educate me as tho how casinos in Kentucky would really benfit horse racing....seems the opposite. b) having lost a friend (suicide) as a result of gambling debts; and c) wouldn't we better off facing those issues that are keeping manufacuring jobs out of Kentucky....ie "right-to'work" if we want to improve our financial situation AND quality of life.

 

I'll help out with a.) but I'm not an expert and I don't know all of the ways. Here are ways I do know would help though. 1. More gamblers would be at race tracks if they also had slots increasing the amount of money bet on each race. The tracks keep roughly 28% of every dollar bet then they pay out the winners so the more money bet the more they earn and they take no risk. 2. It would keep their purses competitive with neighboring states for similar races. For example in WV and Indiana sometimes you'll have a $10,000 claiming race with purses over $15,000 where in the same $10,000 claiming races in KY the purse is between $8500 and $10,000. So basically against the same type of competition it is well worth it for trainers and owners to make the road trips to try for the bigger purses which means more competitive races, more horses per race and therefore more betting action on those races.

[SSC]

Here is an article explaining another way the Horse industry is dying in KY:

 

http://nky.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20120103/NEWS0103/301030159/Horses-follow-money-out-state?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

[doomer]

I'll help out with a.) but I'm not an expert and I don't know all of the ways. Here are ways I do know would help though. 1. More gamblers would be at race tracks if they also had slots increasing the amount of money bet on each race. The tracks keep roughly 28% of every dollar bet then they pay out the winners so the more money bet the more they earn and they take no risk. 2. It would keep their purses competitive with neighboring states for similar races. For example in WV and Indiana sometimes you'll have a $10,000 claiming race with purses over $15,000 where in the same $10,000 claiming races in KY the purse is between $8500 and $10,000. So basically against the same type of competition it is well worth it for trainers and owners to make the road trips to try for the bigger purses which means more competitive races, more horses per race and therefore more betting action on those races.

 

 

Thanks for the information.

[Big Slick]

Kentucky has missed out on a lot the action, as now casinos are popping up everywhere. Better late than never.