Incumbent Kentucky governor loses re-election on “no casinos” platform
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Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher ran his re-election campaign on a “no casinos” platform in the state of Kentucky, claiming that the introduction of casinos would cause “a dramatic negative effect on Kentucky’s families and communities through an increase in crime and new social burdens on our communities.”
Voters rejected this idea and him in the recent election, however, and Steve Beshear won with a landslide 58.7% of the vote:
As Kentucky’s next Governor, I will work with the House and Senate to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot which would allow expanded gaming in Kentucky. It is time that the people be allowed to vote on whether they want expanded gaming in our state and the resulting economic benefits that it will provide.
Studies indicate that each year hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians go just across our borders to other states where expanded gaming exists. It is estimated that if Kentucky allowed expanded gaming within the state it would generate revenues of nearly $1,250,000,000.
If that money now being spent by Kentuckians out of state was instead spent here on the entertainment provided by expanded gaming, studies indicate that it would produce almost five hundred million dollars a year, each and every year, in new tax revenue for our state-five hundred million dollars each year to be spent on the education of Kentucky’s children, the creation of jobs for Kentuckians, the provision of better healthcare for our people and to build and pave Kentucky’s roads.
