At least $1,148,288-- Includes 1993-94 and 1996 lobbying expenditures

June 9, 1997

Every day is Derby Day in the Bluegrass State, which boasts seven horse tracks and four off-track betting parlors, but no casinos of any kind. Kentucky also has a state lottery with a history of inefficiency and corruption which includes the mass resignation of seven lottery commission board members and the lottery president in 1993 and 1994, after a state audit uncovered faulty procedures and conflicts of interests.

Kentucky's got a bit of a reputation for official corruption when it comes to lobbying as well. Case in point: The horse-racing operative who slipped $500 to then-Speaker of the House Don Blandford in 1992. "Bless your heart," said Blandford, unaware that the FBI had the whole thing on videotape.

Racetrack owners and their out-of-state investors -- some of them big national casino operators like Merv Griffin's Players International in Atlantic City, owners of the Bluegrass Downs track in Paducah -- have pushed for land-based casinos at tracks in order to compete with riverboat casinos in neighboring states. So far, they have had little success.

Kentucky only makes campaign contribution records available on paper, for 10 cents a page, and lobbying reports for 15 cents a page. Mother Jones obtained partial figures on lobbying expenditures from Common Cause of Kentucky, which showed that gaming interests lavished at least $1,148,288 lobbying state lawmakers for the periods of September 1993 through April 1994, and January 1996 through April 1996 alone, making our Kentucky figure another very conservative one.

Web Exclusives:

Heavy Betting
An exclusive investigation of the gambling industry's state-by-state political contributions.

Across State Lines
Track gambling interests political contributions across 11 states.

Ea$y Money: The Documentary
See exclusive video clips from the FRONTLINE and Mother Jones Television co-production.

Fun Facts
Test your knowledge about gambling.

From the Magazine:

Ea$y Money
With exploding profits, the gambling industry is investing in politics.

All Bets Are Off
Citizens groups have won some key battles in the gambling wars.

World Wide Wagering
On the Internet, it's already possible to lose your shirt from your desktop, and more gambling sites are in the works.

Hot!Media
See Hot!media for more resources.