Kentucky House reverses course, passes bill to ban 'gray games'

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Five days after it was blocked on the House floor by a rarely used procedural maneuver, a heavily lobbied bill to ban so-called "gray machines" in Kentucky was resurrected Wednesday and voted through the chamber.

House Bill 594, which would ban the games with cash payouts that have proliferated in stores across Kentucky in recent years, was blocked last Friday when a motion to table the bill passed by a narrow margin, splitting members of the Republican supermajority.

The bill remained tabled until Republican House Speaker David Osborne walked to the floor Wednesday to bring a motion to pull the bill from the table, receiving 66 yes votes from Republicans to do so.

After very little discussion on the House floor, HB 594 was then cleared for passage by a 64-32 vote, with 53 Republicans voting yes and 25 of the caucus voting no.

More:Bill to ban 'gray machines' in Kentucky stalls, tabled in House vote splitting GOP

Rep. Killian Timoney, R-Lexington, the lead sponsor of the bill, told The Courier Journal the about-face in the chamber came after "a lot of discussions" among members of the GOP caucus, including one that lasted nearly 30 minutes in their meeting Tuesday evening.

Timoney said there were "misunderstandings" about the 42-35 vote to table the bill last week, as some newer members were unaware of how many votes were needed to table it and effectively block its path.

Osborne later told reporters the bill was revived after the caucus discussion where "we just had to explain it to a few people."

"The tabling motion caught some people off guard, but I think once we were able to explain it a little better, most people came on board," Osborne said.

Rep. Steven Doan, R-Erlanger, who supports an alternative bill to instead regulate and tax the games that supporters call "skill games," filed the successful motion to table the bill last week, saying the caucus was divided on the issue, which could hurt small businesses, and needed more discussions before it advanced.

Doan told The Courier Journal the GOP caucus met and discussed differences on this issue this week, adding that "it was clear by the vote today that leadership was effective in making their case for the ban bill."

More:Battle over 'gray games' dominating lobbying spending in Kentucky

"While I voted against the ban bill, I credit leadership for whipping the vote and working with members to understand their issues," Doan said.

The bill to ban the games now heads to the Senate, with Timoney saying he is "very" optimistic about its chances in the chamber.

A similar bill to ban the machines passed the House in the 2022 session, but it stalled when the Senate passed an amended bill near the end of the session that the House would not concur with.

Timoney said that Senate Budget Committee chairman that Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Taylor Mill, is expected to give strong opposition to the bill in that chamber but that Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, would be its biggest advocate.

Osborne said that in an effort to avoid the same fate as last year, the House has "shared language" on the bill with the Senate throughout the session, adding that "it's my understanding that they're fully committed to passing it as is."

Senate President Robert Stivers said Wednesday that the GOP caucus in that chamber had "not really" discussed the issue of the bill to ban the games.

This issue of whether to ban the games has been the subject of enormous lobbying spending to influence the legislature, with two opposing groups collectively spending more than $300,000 on advertisements in January alone.

More:Expensive fight over slots-like 'gray machines' looms in Kentucky legislature

Mark Guilfoyle of Kentuckians Against Illegal Gambling — a group financially backed by the horse racing industry whose ads say the games are an illegal and unregulated expansion of gambling — applauded Wednesday's vote in a statement as "the right decision to protect Kentucky’s future."

"We urge the Senate to quickly follow suit and stop the massive proliferation of illegal gray machine gambling that is threatening the safety of Kentucky families and communities," Guilfolye said. "Passing HB 594 is the only certain and viable option to prevent every restaurant, gas station and convenience store in the Commonwealth from becoming a mini casino— bringing robberies, underage gambling, and violent crime to our communities."

Wes Jackson of Kentucky Merchants and Amusement Coalition — a group financially backed by major skill games maker Pace-O-Matic, whose ads said a ban would hurt small businesses to protect what they call the "monopoly" of Churchill Downs — criticized the vote to advance HB 594 in a statement that took another shot at the horse racing giant.

"It’s no secret that this is a Churchill Downs-backed bill," Jackson said. "While they seek to ban a few skill games that are helping struggling small businesses they simultaneously pushed a bill that gives the tracks exclusive rights to sports wagering — which, ironically, passed in committee today. We are hopeful that our supporters in the Senate will put this dangerous ban bill to rest, putting the needs of actual Kentuckians, not the profits of big business, first.”

Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky House passes bill to ban 'gray' gambling machines