Earlier, we pointed out that all of Damon Thayer’s revealed clients stand to gain directly from casino gambling. At the time, we said one of his clients, Kentucky Speedway, didn’t stand to gain.

Boy, were we stupid.

Check this Pat Crowley article from March 7, 2002. It’s all about Kentucky Speedway developer, Jerry Carroll, who wanted to build casinos in Northern Kentucky.

SPARTA, Ky. — The man who built Kentucky Speedway wants to build casinos.

Developer Jerry Carroll, who rebuilt a thoroughbred horse track and then built a $150 million motor speedway, now wants to build casinos in Northern Kentucky. And he wants to build them big.

“If you’re going to do gaming, you have to do it right, you have to do it big,” Mr. Carroll said Wednesday during in an interview in his office that overlooks the 3-year-old Kentucky Speedway, which he and a group of investors built in Gallatin County 35 miles southeast of Cincinnati.

Mr. Carroll is pursuing casinos with another high-profile Northern Kentucky developer, Bill Butler of Corporex, owner of the RiverCenter towers in Covington. Though the two development dynamos aren’t talking specifics, they could eventually build land-based casinos in Covington, Fort Mitchell or Gallatin County.

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“I’m talking bigger and better than Argosy,” he said, referring to the riverboat casino in nearby Lawrenceburg, Ind., which most months is the most popular floating casino in the nation.

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Mr. Carroll is thinking far beyond the electronic slot machines Kentucky horse track owners and operators want to build at eight Kentucky tracks, including Turfway Park in Florence.

Mr. Carroll, who has been pushing for casinos in Kentucky for a decade, acknowledges his idea is in the concept stage. Casino gambling is currently illegal in Kentucky and he does not have, or at least he is not revealing, specific locations planned for casinos.

Nor does he intend to lobby state lawmakers this year to allow casinos, even though he does have a lobbyist — former state senator Joe Meyer of Covington — working in Frankfort.

-SNIP-

Mr. Carroll refused to say where he will pursue developing casinos. But he does have access to at least three locations:

• Covington’s riverfront. He and Mr. Butler have the rights to study the feasibility of developing Riverfront West, a 10-acre tract between the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge and Covington Landing.

• The former Oldenberg Brewery building in Fort Mitchell. Mr. Carroll is part-owner of the building, which is adjacent to the Drawbridge Inn and features a large unoccupied hall.

• The Kentucky Speedway, which is surrounded by hundreds of acres of undeveloped land.

Mr. Carroll’s pursuit of casinos comes as the thoroughbred industry is trying to convince state lawmakers to legalize gambling. Legislation filed in the Kentucky General Assembly would allow the development of eight gambling halls at tracks that would offer video machines. Gamblers could play slots, blackjack, keno and other casino games.

What was that, again, about Damon Thayer not having massive conflicts of interest?

UPDATE: Yes, we realize Bruton Smith owns the Kentucky Speedway. Doesn’t change the parties involved, the ties or the hopes for the facility.