FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – After a long winning streak, casino operators have racked up back-to-back losses in a high-stakes push to get slot machines, roulette wheels and blackjack tables into more states.

In Kentucky, with its long tradition of wagering on horse races, Gov. Steve Beshear pronounced a casino initiative dead on Thursday. That announcement came only a week after Massachusetts lawmakers rejected a measure that would have allowed casinos to open there.

Opponents contend the rejections in Kentucky and Massachusetts, coupled with defeats two years ago in Ohio and Nebraska, signal a slowing of the spread of casinos after two decades of rapid expansion.

“We’ve got states that are identified with three different regions of the country – the South, Midwest and Northeast – that are rejecting the casino agenda,” said John-Mark Hack, a businessman who led the fight against casinos in Kentucky. “It’s clear that a trend is emerging.”

Lawmakers in Kentucky, after three months of debate, declined even to vote on a proposal to open up to 12 casinos in the state. And in Massachusetts, lawmakers voted down a proposal by Gov. Deval Patrick to open three resort-style casinos.

The American Gaming Association, which represents casino operators, contends that the recent failed bids shouldn’t be seen as a trend. Holly Thomsen, spokeswoman for the organization, said the losses in Kentucky and Massachusetts came at the hands of lawmakers, not by popular vote of the people. Had people been given the right to vote, Thomsen said she believes the outcome would have been different.

“I don’t think it’s true that there is some trend out there showing people are routinely rejecting casinos,” Thomsen said.

Over the past 30 years, 37 states have opened their doors to some of casino gambling, whether full-scale commercial casinos or operations at horse tracks. Most of the expansion came during the 1990s.

Amid the setbacks over the past two years, Thomsen said the casino industry also scored three key victories in Pennsylvania, Florida and Kansas.

The next test comes in November, when voters in Maryland face a ballot initiative to decide whether to allow casinos to open in that state.

Retired United Methodist minister Tom Gray, head of the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion, said the states that haven’t allowed casinos in probably never will because they have seen social ills associated with them, whether crime, bankruptcy or divorce.

“People are saying ‘No more. Enough is enough,”‘ Gray said.

Industry expert Richard Thalheimer, an economist and former University of Louisville professor, said antigambling advocates can’t declare the expansion of casinos over based on a handful of recent setbacks.

“I don’t think you can develop a trend from two or three states,” said Thalheimer, president of Thalheimer Research Associates in Lexington. “Even in Kentucky, this isn’t over. I’m fairly certain this will be attempted again in the future.”

Beshear, who made legalizing casinos a centerpiece of his election campaign in Kentucky last year, said Thursday he may make another attempt. He said allowing casinos to open, then taxing them, could generate as much as $600 million a year for the cash-strapped state.

The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce supported Beshear’s call for legalizing casinos, saying state residents already are spending more than $1 billion a year at casinos in neighboring states of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and West Virginia.

Beshear said lawmakers feared political consequences if they had supported his plan, even though voters would have had the final say in a ballot referendum.

“The biggest disappointment to me is the revenue that we could have generated from expanded gaming in a time when we need it very desperately,” he said.

The American Gaming Association reported nationwide gambling revenues of more than $32 billion in 2006. More than $5 billion in taxes were paid to the cities and states where the casinos are located. The commercial casinos employed more than 366,000 people that year, paying more than $13 billion in salaries, benefits and tips.

Gray said the positive economic impact carries a far greater social cost, and that’s why the remaining casino-free states are thinking long and hard about opening the door to gambling.

“Casinos are in the business of separating people from their money,” Gray said. “Is this something you want to put on Main Street and call it economic development?”

Gray said the push by the gambling industry to move into additional states won’t end any time soon. Neither will antigambling advocates give up their resistance.

“It’s an arms race that will never end,” he said. “I think we hold the winning hand.”

AP-ES-03-30-08 1452EDT