LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky lawmakers passed a bill to outlaw thousands of gaming machines with cash payouts that have proliferated at bars and restaurants across the state, setting up a potential legal challenge from the industry behind the games going by names like Burning Barrel and Wildcat.
The Senate passed House Bill 594 by a 29-6 vote Tuesday, sending the measure to Gov. Andy Beshear, who has not said if he will sign it.
[BACKGROUND: 'Skill for idiots' | 'Gray machines' push limits of gambling in Kentucky]
A Beshear spokeswoman pointed to the governor’s comments last month, when he said he was "monitoring" the issue. At the time, Beshear noted that the so-called "skill" or "gray" games are the only "unregulated" form of gaming in the state and that it "speaks volume" that the state police’s union decided to stop accepting donations from the industry.
Even if Beshear were to veto the bill, lawmakers could override his action later this month.
After Virginia banned the slot-style machines in 2021, the industry sued and won an injunction from a judge allowing the games to continue to operate while the court case plays out.
The Kentucky Merchants and Amusement Coalition, a new group representing skill game companies and the small businesses that host the games, declined to comment Tuesday on the potential for a court challenge in Kentucky.
Wes Jackson, a Lexington business owner who chairs the coalition, said in a statement that the legislature’s action Tuesday shows the influence of the horse racing industry, which operates slot-style historical horse racing games at venues like Louisville’s Derby City Gaming, owned by Churchill Downs Inc.
Games at venues Derby City Gaming are a form a parimutuel horse racing, the legislature decided in 2021, and thus are not affected by the ban that passed Tuesday.
"Once again, hypocrisy has won the day in Frankfort. It's clear that some lawmakers are committed to putting the requests of one constituent, Churchill Downs Inc., over the needs of thousands of their constituents who are relying on the income of legal skill games," said Jackson said in the statement.
Kentuckians Against Illegal Gambling, the horse industry-backed interest group trying to kill the gray games, applauded the Senate’s move on Tuesday and urged Beshear to sign the bill into law.
"The passage of HB 594 is yet another example of Kentucky lawmakers wisely, carefully and deliberately debating the expansion of gaming and only doing so in the best interests of Kentuckians," said Mark Guilfoyle, the executive director of Kentuckians Against Illegal Gambling.
