Lawsuits are being filed to keep the casino gambling issue off the November ballot.
The anti-gambling group Casino Watch and pro-gambling potential casino operators in Sugar Creek and Cape Girardeau say established gambling interests want Missourians to approve an unconstitutional amendment to the constitution.
The Sugar Creek and Cape Girardeau interests object to a proposal to cap the number of casinos. It would leave them out. Casino Watch’s Evilio Silvera says the proposal is unconstitutional because it has more than one issue and because it forces voters to vote for something they don’t want in order to get something they do want.
Silvera says, "The root of the issue is that you have competing interests in that an anti-gambling expansion voter does not have a straight, single-issue, single action vote. Those that are pro-gambling expansion find themselves in the same scenario."
He says the amendment deals with increasing taxes, restricting the powers of the gaming commission, removal of the loss limit, and providing more money for schools without requiring that it be in addition to present appropriations.
Silvera says the name of the proposition, "Yes for Schools First" is confusing and deceiving because the only financial supporters are two casino companies. He says it should be called the "Yes for Casinos First Initiative."
Download Bob Priddy’s story (:61 mp3)
