As Governor Steve Beshear prepares to divulge his casino gambling plan, he is expected to ignore the downside of creating more avenues for self-destructive, math-challenged Kentuckians to blow up their own finances and then turn to taxpayers for a bail-out.
This is a mistake, of course.
At the very least, Governor Beshear should propose to fine anyone with gambling winnings an amount equal to those winnings if that person's non-gambling income would qualify him or her for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit or if the household receives KCHIP, food stamps, or other state aid in the same tax year the gambling winnings occur.
Making it impossible for low-income Kentuckians to profit from gambling would have the effect of preventing them from frittering away their money. And ours.
