One bill repudiates, the other expands gambling

Monday, April 21, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

The Senate Finance Committee approved a bill Monday that would let horse tracks run slot machine casinos on the side, expanding a relatively new form of gambling in the state.

Across the hall, the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee approved a bill to repeal riverboat gambling, video poker and the New Orleans casino.

If there was any common ground among supporters of both bills, it was that both measures would help the 150-year-old horse racing industry.

"This just gives the racing industry the opportunity to survive," Sen. Don Cravins, D-Lafayette, said of his bill allowing slot machines at the tracks. He said racing revenue is down 60 percent from just five years ago. The slot bill is designed to attract more customers and boost racing purses.

He also said, 25,000 jobs are at stake in the horse industry and related businesses.

Sen. Tommy Casanova, R-Crowley, tried to convince the Finance Committee that his repeal bill, was a better way to go.

"Putting slots in the tracks is at best - pardon the pun - a crap shoot as to saving the industry. But if my bill passes, horse racing will be the only real show in town," Casanova said.

But the Finance Committee decided to approve the Cravins bill on a 5-3 vote. The bill would allow Evangeline Downs, Delta Downs and Louisiana Downs each to build 30,000 square feet of space to house an unlimited number of slot machines.

Casanova had better luck across the hall with the revenue panel, which voted 5-4 to repeal riverboat gambling, the New Orleans casino and video poker.

Both bills had already been approved in another committee charged with examining the subject matter. The bills were before committees dealing with money matters Monday under a new Senate rule that requires any bill with a fiscal effect to go before one of those committees before hitting the Senate floor.

However, debate on Casanova's bill often strayed from the fiscal effects and moved into areas of politics and morality.

Opponents of the repeal bill said the people had already spoken in local option elections around the state last year. "It is the arrogance of power to go to the people and tell them they really didn't mean what they said," said Sen. John Guidry, D-Baton Rouge, in opposition to the repeal.

Sen. Jon Johnson, D-New Orleans, asked Casanova how he would replace an estimated $835 million in government revenue that would be lost as a result of repeal.

"We've got time to deal with that," insisted Casanova. His bill would outlaw the New Orleans casino, which is not open, immediately. Video poker would be phased out over two years, riverboats over five years.

Repeal backers said the revenue amounts to a false economy and that legal gambling has led to more bankruptcies, broken homes and white collar crime. He recalled recent news stories out of New Orleans on the death of a toddler abandoned in a hot car, allegedly abandoned by a baby sitter who was playing video poker.

The fiscal effects of Cravins' bill were unclear. The cost of regulation would be about $2 million but the tracks apparently would cover that cost. Any revenue the state would recognize would have to come from a new slot machine tax, but the Legislature cannot consider a new tax in a regular session. The tax measure will have to be considered in an expected special session.