The state Racing and Gaming Commission voted Thursday to rescind its self-imposed ban on new gambling licenses — but it could be a year or more before we see new casinos in the state. Racing and Gaming Commission administrator Jack Ketterer says the commission will hold a public hearing on the action July rule on July 27th, and could take final action on the rule at their September 2nd meeting He says there would then have to be background checks on the applicants.He says the D-C-I backgrounds would take six-to-eight months, the rule change would be effective in November, the socio-economic study would be back in December when the backgrounds were in. Under that timeline, it could be March of 2005 before any new licenses are issued. He says there’s no guarantee that it’ll happen that way, but he says that’s the earliest it could be. Once a new license is approved, it’ll still be some time before patrons will play the one-armed bandits. He says the quickest they’ve had them is one-year — generally it takes between 12 and 18 months for someone to start operations after they get their license. Six counties have passed gambling referendums to vie for new licenses, but the Racing and Gaming Commission has left the door open for other counties to pass referendums.
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