Any excuse!

Legislators use any excuse to expand gambling from propping up the horse racing industry that's on life support to funding a stadium.

Do they believe the revenue falls from the sky?

Minnesota Senate panel rejects 'racino' proposal
By Doug Belden

A plan kicking around the Capitol for years that would allow slot machines at horse-racing tracks got a vote in a Senate committee Monday, March 19, and went down 8-5.

Majority Leader Dave Senjem, R-Rochester, sponsor of the "racino" bill, said afterward that the defeat does not mean the issue is dead this session. "Racino is part of the Capitol fabric," he said. "It'll stand as long as this building stands."

Senjem said he thought the vote would be closer but counted it a victory of sorts that there was a vote at all after years of the issue floating in limbo. "There's been many years we couldn't get a hearing," he said.

John McCarthy, executive director of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association, testified against the bill in front of the State Government Innovation and Veterans committee, arguing it would cost jobs at tribal casinos and represent an expansion of gambling that would be hard to stop.

"I think you always wind up in a better position when you've had a vote and it's gone down in a major committee," McCarthy said after the vote. But "it's far from over. This thing is going to continue to pop up."

Racino has been promoted as a funding source for the state's portion of a new Vikings stadium, and Monday's hearing comes at a time when some lawmakers are expressing doubts about the ability of electronic pull-tab gaming to supply sufficient revenue for the state's stadium share.

But Senjem said tying his bill to a stadium is "not even on the radar." He said the measure is needed to shore up the state's ailing horse industry.

Under his bill, the tax revenues - which Senjem said would be between $87 million and $120 million per year - would have gone toward paying back more than $2 billion in state aid owed to schools.

But Senjem wasn't too firm on that, agreeing later to support an amendment from Sen. Julianne Ortman, R-Chanhassen, that would direct the money not to the school shift but to a new college scholarship for

. (Staff)students who earn at least a 3.0 grade point average.
Ortman's amendment passed, as did another one from Sen. Dave Thompson, R-Lakeville, that would subject any racino plan to a vote of the public in the county where it would be located.

That would mean voters in Scott County, where Canterbury Park is located, and Anoka County, which houses Running Aces, would get a say after the Legislature had taken action, Thompson said.

Several GOP committee members voted no on the bill, as did several Democrats. Senjem said backers knew going in there would be Republicans who would oppose gambling on moral grounds.

He and other supporters argued racino would not represent an expansion of gambling in the state since Canterbury and Running Aces already have card clubs.

"You don't always win the first time," Senjem said of Monday's vote. "We always knew it was going to be difficult."