Voters, not lawyers, have the final say on Constitutional amendments says anti-casino group

For Immediate Release
May 19, 2009
Contact: Martin Cothran
Phone: 859-329-1919

An anti-casino group opposing a bill to place video slot machines at race tracks said today that it doesn't think another attorney general's opinion on the issue is necessary to tell people what they already know. "We certainly have confidence in Jack Conway," said Martin Cothran, spokesman for Say No To Casinos, "but it doesn't take an attorney general's opinion to tell us that people weren’t voting in favor of slot machines when they voted for the Lottery in 1988."

Cothran made the remarks in the wake of reports that former House Speaker Jody Richards (D-Bowling Green) had requested an opinion from Jack Conway's office.

“In Kentucky, lawyers don't have the final say on Constitutional amendments. Voters have the final say," Cothran said, "and in 1988 voters said they approved a lottery, not slot machines."

Cothran said that both voters and lawmakers were told in no uncertain terms in 1988 that the Lottery would not include casino-style gambling, and that the idea that the constitutional amendment allows for video slots was a "constitutional fiction" invented by imaginative lawyers.

"The idea that voters approved slot machines in 1988 is so outrageous, only a lawyer could believe it."

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