Groups ally to fight gambling expansion, host conference
Citizens Against Gambling Expansion speaks out in news conference at Capitol
From, Kentucky Citizen Digest, March/April, 2001.

A group representing almost 2 million Kentucky citizens announced its formation as a formal coalition and its intent to oppose Gov. Paul Patton’s proposal to consider gambling expansion in Kentucky .  Patton has suggested opening 12 to 14 state-run casinos.

The Rev. Nancy Jo Kemper, executive director of the Kentucky Council of Churches and  moderator of the coalition, made the announcement at a news conference July 27 at the Capitol.

Citizens Against Gambling Expansion (CAGE),  is composed of a wide variety of religious and nonreligious organizations and individuals, both liberal and conservative.

The coalition’s goal is to keep lawmakers from making it a ballot issue. “It is deceptive for government to offer games of chance, in which ‘the house will always win as a means of raising the revenue it believes it needs to provide sound government and governmental services to its citizens,” said Kemper.

Members are the 11 denominations affiliated with the Kentucky Council of Churches (including the four Roman Catholic dioceses, the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church); Kentucky Baptist Convention;  Southeast Christian Church (Kentucky’s largest church); the Temperance League of Kentucky and The Family Foundation.

Kemper said the coalition has recruited former University of Kentucky basketball player Cameron Mills to be part of the campaign, as well as Kentucky poet and author Wendell Berry.              CAGE also sponsored a training workshop on August 21 to teach citizens how best to work with legislators, neighbors and church members to persuade them to oppose any form of gambling expansion.

Dr. Robert Goodman, author of “The Luck Business: The Devastating Consequences and Broken Promises of America’s Gambling Explosion,” gave the key-note address. Dan Ireland of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling also participated. Goodman disagreed with the idea of state-supported casinos used to prevent dollars from being used in other states’ casinos. “You can’t fight fire with fire,” Goodman stated. “If you do that, all you get is a bigger fire.”

CAGE plans to host several regional meetings throughout Kentucky in September. For more information, call The Family Foundation at (859) 255-5400.
 
 
 

Key Family Foundation Contacts: Kent Ostrander, Executive Director Martin Cothran, Senior Associate Policy Analyst