FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Proponents of expanded gambling in Kentucky didn't hit the jackpot this year.
Kentucky lawmakers rejected Gov. Steve Beshear's proposal earlier in the year to offer voters a constitutional amendment that would allow casinos in the state. The issue hasn't seemed to help legislative candidates who favored it either.
With this year's election resulting in almost no change in the General Assembly's partisan breakdown - a net gain of one seat for Democrats in the House and status quo in the Senate - the future of expanded gambling faces uncertain odds.
"It's a political loser all the way around," said Martin Cothran, a spokesman for the Lexington-based Family Foundation.
Gambling played a central role in some legislative races this year but came up short.
It was a key issue in a special election for an eastern Kentucky state Senate seat in February. Republican Sen. Brandon Smith, of Hazard, based his campaign largely on his opposition to the idea and won. Last week, expanded gambling simmered in two competitive state Senate races and at least one candidate who supported putting a proposed amendment to voters lost.
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