By Charles Wolfe, The Associated Press
and Patrick Crowley, The Cincinnati Enquirer

FRANKFORT - Northern Kentucky would be in line for two casinos under legislation a Kentucky House leader said he plans to file after an agreement by the state's horse tracks to accept some independent casinos.

Rep. Larry Clark, the House speaker pro tem and a Louisville Democrat, said Wedneday he envisioned up to nine casinos - five controlled by racetracks and four elsewhere around the state.

Along with Turfway Park in Florence, another casino would be built along Interstate 75 in Northern Kentucky, Clark said. He did not mention a specific location.

But developer Jerry Carroll, who is pushing for legalized casino gambling in Kentucky, owns the former Oldenberg Brewery in Fort Mitchell and has previously said that would make a good location for a casino because it is adjacent to I-75 and less than 10 minutes from downtown Cincinnati.

Carroll said a casino may also be proposed for Northern Kentucky's riverfront, but he mentioned no specific location.

"There is still a lot to be done, but this shows there is some movement going on," said Carroll, the president of the Kentucky Speedway and Turfway Park's former owner. "And that movement is that the tracks are accepting that for this to happen there has to be casinos as well as gambling at the racetracks."

Clark said that, under his bill, tracks would be authorized to conduct "expanded gaming," that could be as little as electronic slot machines "or it could be full gaming like the land-based casino."

Turfway Park president Bob Elliston met with Clark on Wednesday but refused to discuss details of the meeting. Elliston, however, sounded less optimistic than Clark.

"We made progress, and we agreed on some concepts," Elliston said. "But not every concept has been turned into legislative language. There are a whole lot of different things at play here."

Carroll also downplayed Wednesday's development.

"Today was a step, but only a step," he cautioned. "This thing still has a long way to go and a lot of politics to go through."

Other tracks covered by the agreement were Thunder Ridge near Prestonsburg and Kentucky Downs at Franklin, Clark said.

Earlier Wednesday, a leader of the antigambling forces delivered petitions to Gov. Ernie Fletcher and mused on prospects for gambling legislation, probably a proposed constitutional amendment, getting through the 2004 General Assembly.

Howard Beauman, executive director of the Kentucky League on Alcohol and Gambling Problems, said he thought the legislature currently lacked the appetite for a gambling bill but that conditions are fluid.

"Our concern is the budget problems," Beauman said, referring to Fletcher's proposed budget, which is unusually austere. Because of that, Beauman said, gambling "could jump up at any time."

The governor has not changed his position on gambling since the gubernatorial campaign, Fletcher spokeswoman Jeannie Lausche said.

"The governor wouldn't actively support or push for expanded gambling," Lausche said. "But he does believe any plan would ultimately have to be fair for all Kentuckians and decided by all Kentuckians."

Last week, Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, told the Enquirer that he does not think a gaming bill will pass the legislature this year.

Clark did not say when he would file his bill. The 2004 legislative session ends in mid-April and is more than half over.

E-mail pcrowley@enquirer.com