TOPEKA | Kansas' new law authorizing state-owned casinos and slot parlors is constitutional, the state Supreme Court said this morning.
The ruling, a huge victory for gambling supporters, means plans can proceed for a casino in Wyandotte County and slot machines at the Woodlands.
Opponents of state-run gambling had hoped to derail the law in the courts.
The court said it so no reason to strike down the law, and that the system set up by lawmakers was constitutional.
The "friendly" challenge was filed by the attorney general to test the law to assuage concerns about its constitutionality. The state Legislature passed the law in 2007.
The case focused on one central point: Did the new law meet the Kansas Constitution’s definition of a "state owned and operated lottery" when casino developers would run the business and own the facilities?
In a unanimous ruling released Friday morning, the court said it did.
"While the state is not the exclusive owner and operator of all aspects of the lottery enterprise under (the law), the state owns and operates the enterprise itself and owns and operates key elements of the lottery,” the ruling states.
The court victory comes after years of contentious debate in the Legislature. The law that was finally passed allows the state and developers to build casinos in Wyandotte, Sumner, Ford and either Crawford or Cherokee counties.
The law allows slot machines at The Woodlands racetrack, and a pari-mutuel dog track in Frontenac, near Pittsburg.
Selection and approval of the developers is underway.
whew
Now that the third house of the Kansas legislature has voted, we have a lottery law! Pretty risky, the old stuff of acting with merely two of three legislative chambers, plus Governor. Here, the lawmakers in the third house (business cards say "judge," odd title) voted the bill through. We have a duly enacted law!
Really, it makes more sense to start bills in the Supreme Court, and let the judgelegislators vote first. If they vote it down, nobody else has to waste time on it. If the judgelegislators pass it, the bit players -- House Senate, Governor -- can do their thing. Time-saver, thinking out loud.