Mayhap this post belongs under poker notes, so I'll go ahead and cross post it there. Read ahead though - it's no boring poker story. Boring maybe, but no poker story.

Lt. Governor Steve Pence broke with Ernie yesterday and announced that he supports expanded gambling in Kentucky. At first it appears that the Lt. Governor is in touch with what people want and is willing to go out on a limb to support what his church leaders probably tell him is a terrible course of action. When examined more closely, however, we can see that what Pence actually supports, and what the horse industry supports, is actually quite detrimental to the Commonwealth, and this is actually just one more case of a politician selling out to big business. It only takes one trip to Indiana to see who is really benefiting from the gambling along our northern border. As you walk into Belterra or Caesar’s you are surrounded with opulence and wealth. The players don’t own all that mahogany and gold, they merely get to walk by it on their way to being robbed, and it makes them feel better about the experience. It only takes a few minutes at the table, watching the money flow down into the rake box, to know just how lucrative that business is. This isn’t like legalization of alcohol, where every mom and pop can open their own beer joint. If casino gambling comes to Kentucky only the big business owners, read Keeneland and Churchill Downs, could even open gambling establishments. Not because the cost of making an attractive casino is impossible, but, as the way things are proposed now, it would be actually legislated that only the horse industry can operate the casinos. I guess that’s because in Kentucky, the sacred cow is named ManO'War. They don’t even hesitate to tell you to your face, “We must protect the horse industry!” Allowing tracks to run casinos doesn’t help the people employed by the horse industry at all. There won’t be any additional races or any additional horses. I’d even be surprised to see the purses grow. The profit will be raked right into the hands of the owners. Sure it would boost our economy by providing a percentage to the state. It would also take twice that much money from those least able to afford it. Something akin to that happens already in Kentucky, even right here in Powell County, with non-profit bingo parlors. The key difference, however, is that with a non-profit group, everything they make goes straight back into the public, in the form of good deeds, scholarships, and the creation of facilities and events that benefit the public.

I’m not one to criticize the ideas of others without presenting one of my own, so here it is: We need to allow gambling in the state of Kentucky, but only with a zero percent rake. There’s no way around it, people love to gamble. I love to play poker. There’s no reason we can’t allow gambling here without big business further raping our citizenry. If you think that no one would operate a gambling establishment if they couldn’t rake the games, I think you need to reconsider. Businesses are already eager to operate free Texas Hold’em tournaments. Why? Because while people sit and play games, like poker, blackjack, or whatever else, they like to drink. They like to eat. They like to smoke. All of these things can be turned into money making opportunities. These opportunities can even work for the small operators, who maybe want to reserve a table or two at the back for a game among friends. If a company does want to come into Kentucky and open the opulent resort type casino that we can see glowing across the Ohio River, then by all means, allow them to charge whatever admission price they feel is right. They can compete in the market like everyone else. Gambling really is already almost legal in the state of Kentucky. A place where gambling takes place, however, cannot achieve any profit of any kind as a result of the gaming. That means no rake, no admission price, no charge for food and drinks, and so on. An innocent poker tournament scheduled to occur at Applebee’s in Mount Sterling was recently nixed by our gaming board here in the state. Why? Because even though there was no rake, the restaurant stood to make a bundle on food and drinks. Now that's protctingthe horse industry. We need to change this law now to start allowing respectable gaming here in Kentucky; not the spectacle that occurs under the Vegas lights, but the kind that already occurs in the pool rooms and the back rooms of liquor joints and is forced to exist outside the law. Gambling is what people want, and there’s no reason to let big business control and profit from our citizens' natural vices.