Gambling bill may not get second chance after all

Thursday, June 30, 2005 | 9:10 a.m.

TOPEKA, Kan. -- The odds of expanded gambling getting another chance in the Senate grew dimmer as the chamber did not plan to work Wednesday and lawmakers looked for ways to wind up a special session in its eighth day.

"Gambling is a second tier issue," Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt told reporters.

Schmidt, R-Independence, said senators are focusing on a plan to meet a Supreme Court mandate to come up with an extra $143 million for education by Friday and to send voters a proposed constitutional amendment making clear only the Legislature has the right to appropriate state funds.

Both proposals passed the Senate last week but failed in the House. Efforts are under way to find versions that will pass both chambers.

Senate President Steve Morris said Tuesday night he wasn't sure reworking the gambling plan would get enough votes for passage. It failed on a 17-22 split Friday and was reworked late Tuesday by the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Like a proposal -- dubbed "Little Casino" and rejected by senators on a 22-17 vote last Friday -- the latest plan calls for a maximum of 5,500 slot machines divided among pari-mutuel dog and race tracks at Kansas City, Wichita, Frontenac, Anthony and Eureka.

The new version would ban any additional casinos in the state for five years.