FRANKFORT, Ky. — The first General Assembly hearing on a bill to expand gambling was contentious Monday.

        Proponents launched a “Keep Kentucky Dollars in Kentucky” initiative to win support. Opponents cited words from the Apostle Paul.

        For more than three hours before the House Licensing and Occupations Committee, representatives of both sides made their case to the lawmakers who will ultimately vote on whether to allow casino-style gambling halls to be built at eight Kentucky racetracks, including a $125 million facility at Turfway Park in Florence.

        A study released Monday by the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce estimated the the dollar impact of the billon Northern Kentucky would be nearly $200 million a year. Opponents of gambling said that everyone needed to take a time out to add up the human impact of casinos in the commonwealth.

        No vote was taken and it is not clear when the bill will be called in the House committee.

        First to testify were representatives of Kentucky's horse industry, including track owners and operators, who told committee members they need computerized slot machines to compete against riverboat casinos and other forms of legalized gambling in neighboring states.

        Indiana and West Virginia, neighboring Kentucky's borders, have riverboat gambling and casino-style gambling at race tracks, respectively.

        The horse industry is backed by lawmakers eager to tap the estimated $245 million in annual revenue gambling would provide to the state at a time when the legislature is facing a $500 million budget shortfall.

        “This is an industry that's hurting, an industry facing an unprecedented competition from other racetracks and casinos,” said House Majority Caucus Chairman Jim Callahan, D-Wilder.

Opponents take turn

               Gambling bill supporters — many of whom wore “Keep Kentucky Dollars in Kentucky” buttons — were followed by the opposition. Kentucky Council of Churches Executive Director Nancy Jo Kemper and two experts testified on the social costs and problems they said are wrought by gambling, including an increase in crime and bankruptcies.

        “I will tell you what the Apostle Paul said to the Romans and the Corinthians about eating meat dedicated to idols,” Ms. Kemper told the panel. “It may be legal, but that doesn't make it right or helpful to the community.”

        The debate came amid an initiative to persuade lawmakers to back the bill in the final 25 days of this year's General Assembly session.

        Steve Stevens, a vice president of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, testified about a new chamber study that indicated a gambling hall at Turfway Park that would employ 1,500 would have a $197 million annual impact on the local economy.

        Chamber economist Tom Zinn, a University of Cincinnati economics professor, performed the study. Using an economic impact model developed by the U.S. Department of Labor, Dr. Zinn determined the casino would:

        • Increase retail sales by $68 million, which would generate $4 million in new sales taxes.

        • Increase household earnings by $49 million.

        • Increase total regional business output by $196 million.

        • Create 3,060 spin-off jobs at retailers, restaurants, hotels and other business that would see increased activity because of the gambling.

"Easy strategy'

               The gambling bill “contains an easy strategy to implement in order to support an important Kentucky industry, not unlike the way in which the state has responded over the years with other economic development strategies to retain and attract important industries,” Mr. Stevens testified.

        The chamber has endorsed the bill, as have the Louisville/Jefferson County and statewide Chambers of Commerce. Also Monday, track operators acknowledged they have begun a media campaign to convince Kentucky residents to call their lawmakers and asked them to support the bill, which is House Bill 768.

        The tracks took out full-page ads in several newspapers. They are also running radio ads and soliciting support through a phone-calling campaign.

        Turfway Park President Bob Elliston, who also testified Monday, said in an interview that the tracks “are using all means available and suitable to get our message out that this is something that will benefit the state and the horse industry.”

        He would not say how much was being spent or how long the campaign would last, but he did refute hints from the opposition that $2 million is being spent by the tracks.

        “It's nowhere near that,” said Mr. Elliston, who also serves on the board of directors of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.

        Ms. Kemper said the opposition group — Citizens Against Gambling Expansion — does not have any money for a campaign. The group is using the Internet, a newsletter and direct appeals from the pulpit to defeat the measure, she said.

        “CAGE does not have thousands of dollars at its disposal to run full page ads soliciting phone calls and letters,” she said. Throughout Monday's hearing, both sides made their case while trying to discredit the other.

"Gloom and doom'

               Churchill Downs President Alex Waldrop asked committee members not to fall for the “gloom and doom” and “dire predictions” of the opponents.

        Mr. Waldrop said while the racing industry would benefit from gambling, so would every county in Kentucky by new revenue generated for education, health care and other state funded programs.

        Dr. Tim Kelly of George Mason University, who testified on behalf of the opponents, headed a 1999 Congressional study, the National Gambling Impact Study Commission.

        A report issued by the commission recommended a moratorium on expansion of gambling until more study on the benefits and problems of gambling can be completed.

        “The purpose of the moratorium is to allow policymakers to demand more information, such as comprehensive and objective cost-benefit analyses, before moving ahead with new gambling initiatives,” Dr. Kelly said.

        “You have not done that in Kentucky. You have only looked at the benefits — not the increase of social costs.”

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