Connecticut House Speaker Brendan Sharkey (D-Hamden) said Wednesday he plans to push for the repeal of the state’s Keno law because he thinks the state no longer needs to plug a $31 million budget shortfall.
Approved last year, Keno has not yet been rolled out, as officials have been negotiating a deal with the state’s two Native American tribes, which operate the casinos Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. The state and the tribes have reached a deal in principal, where the tribes receive 25 percent of Keno revenues.
The state had projected that 1,000 Keno locations could bring revenue of $27 million in the coming fiscal year.
“Keno was a late addition to the budget last year as a way to help fill a budget hole, but now the revenue is not needed so I don’t see a reason to go forward with it, particularly when it hasn’t even started,” Sharkey said in a press release.
He’s not the first to call for repeal. Sen. Minority Leader John McKinney (R-Fairfield), who is seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination, has also called for repeal.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy told the Associated Press earlier this month that he might sign off on a repeal if one reaches his desk.
