Kentucky House Labels Instant Racing as Slot Gambling
While Kentucky's Senate passed a bill allowing a new form of gambling, their House counterparts are scoffing at the notion "instant racing" is more than a disguise for slots. Members of the House continued to push for video lottery terminals, which they cede are slots, as the answer to the state's struggling horse racing industry.Senators who refuse to consider the slots plans say instant racing involves a level of skill, separating it from pure slots gaming. Supporters say the measure could double the purse supplements now provided to horses bred in Kentucky.
But House Speaker Greg Stumbo, an ardent supporter of installing slot machines, says the instant racing plan doesn't go far enough. He says there is no sense in supporting the Senate bill while opposing slots.
"If you put those two machines side by side, a slot machine and the machine that Sen. Thayer proposes, you can't tell them apart," stated Stumbo.
Casino opponents were also uneasy with the new gaming idea.
"Instant Racing requires about the same level of skill as it takes to select which slot machine you're going to play," says spokesman Martin Cothran of Say No To Casinos.
Instant racing would take a random previously run race, give bettors very limited information on the horses entered, and then let them pick winners on which to gamble. The last ten seconds of the race would then play on a screen, before clearing for the next game.
