Voice For Liberty

Kansas protects its gambling interests

Bob Weeks

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At one time Kansas prohibited its citizens from gambling because it was thought to be immoral. That attitude started to change when Kansas allowed a lottery. Now that the state owns casinos — that’s right, in Kansas the state owns the casinos that aren’t Indian casinos — thoughts of morality have been swept aside. Or, at least, we’ve decided that the potential revenue inflows to state coffers is more important than the moral health of Kansans.

Now that Kansas is in the business of gambling, it’s working to protect the monopoly it granted itself. In Wichita, entrepreneurs sought to get around gambling laws by offering a variation of poker that they argued was legal. A judge disagreed, and the game was shut down, preserving the monopoly of the state in gambling.

Having settled the question as to whether gambling is moral, we now see that this case is all about the money. The state doesn’t like competitors.

The state is willing to look the other way on smoking too, when it comes to the potential of earning more revenue from its casinos. Earlier this year the Kansas senate considered a state-wide smoking ban that allowed smoking in its casinos.

Is this another example of Kansas hypocrisy: smoking should not be allowed, except where it might reduce the state’s gambling revenue?

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Comments

4 responses to “Kansas protects its gambling interests”

  1. Joel Weihe

    The Republican party is nothing even close to what the Republican party was in my Grandfathers time, or even my Father is his younger years.
    Back then they believed in such silly things as fiscal responsibility, keeping Government small and Morality.
    These days the party keeps it’s morals only when it suits their needs.
    It grows Government at an alarming rate and spends like, well, drunken sailors.
    I also notice quite a few Republicans that are disgruntled taking on the title of Libertarian. I can only hope that they do indeed hold Libertarian values and are not going to drag all of their bad habits over and ruin the true Libertarian ideology.

  2. jwallace

    I am happy to see you shed light on this matter.

    Any government that cannot live without gambling money is a government that has lost control of its finances and is on the edge of bankruptcy.

  3. Mike

    Hi, I”m not against gamling, I think that Kansas should have legalized it in about 1980. Now it’s too late. I also think that it’s sleazy of a state government to actually run a gambling business like Kansas does. Governments should regulate business for the good of the people (both Business owners and consumers).

    I just love to see the way Wichita and Kansas in general are always trying to jump on the back of a dying (or at least over extended) fad.

    Mike

  4. Wichitator

    Why has there never been any vote on state owned casinos? In most states the voters have a say. The left wing Kansas Supreme Court ruled that a vote on casinos of any sort was not necessary. This activist court ruled that the lottery vote in 1986 was actually a vote authorizing state owned casinos!

    This is an excellent explanation on the decline in the rule of “law” in Kansas when such outrages become law. The legislature’s tolerance for this judicial perversion of the 1986 vote is a reason for this state’s continued decline.

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