900 rally for expanded Kentucky gambling

LOUISVILLE, Ky., June 25 (UPI) -- Hundreds of people rallied against state senators who killed a bill that would have expanded gambling to include slot machines at Kentucky horse tracks.

To get the measure -- which passed the House Friday but died in a Senate committee Monday -- passed next session, the public will either need to persuade Senate Republicans to support the issue "or we've got to change some of the state senators, and let's get started right now," Democratic Gov. Steven Beshear said Wednesday night at the rally of more than 900 people at the Keeneland Association's sales pavilion for Thoroughbred racehorses.

Beshear said he believed the video lottery terminal bill would have passed had it been allowed to go to a Senate floor vote -- something Senate President David Williams, a Republican who opposes expanded gambling, said would not have happened, The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal reported.

Supporters of the legislation say Kentucky's tracks need the slot machines to compete against tracks in neighboring states that use subsidies from slot machines for their operations and purses.