HOW MUCH WILL GAMBLING BACKERS SPEND?

It is no secret that money is the key to most any election outcome. The surprise -- at least for some rural observers -- in last November's statewide vote on the boats-in-moats issue is how deeply involved Democratic political organizations, mainly in St. Louis and Kansas City, were in that campaign. Voters in both urban areas, where most of the state's casinos are, strongly supported allowing gambling joints near -- but not on -- the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

But not everyone favored the so-called boats in moats. A majority of voters in 71 of the state's 114 counties opposed the land-based casinos. The big money -- $10.6 million in all -- wasn't spent in those counties. The financial push was made in the cities where the image of thousands of casino workers on unemployment lines became a fixture of pre-election television advertising.

Opponents of the land-based casinos raised just over $300,000. A big chunk of that, $160,000, came from one St. Louis County businessman, Mark Andrews Jr., who felt so strongly about the spreading influence of gambling in the state that he put his own money on the line.

The issue last November focused on casinos that were supposed to float up and down a river while gamblers took their chances. But, thanks to loose oversight and a gambling commission eager to give casinos just about anything they want, several "riverboats" were allowed that weren't on the river and couldn't float even in a good Missouri gully-washer. So voters were asked to change the rules to allow land-based casinos. The voters obliged. The $10 million-plus worked.

But the real issue goes way beyond the question of whether or not casinos should be on riverboats or on dry land. The worry for a good many Missourians is, now that the gambling companies have won again, just how far will gambling go in the state.

Why stop at the edge of the state's two biggest rivers? There are plenty of other rivers in the Show Me State. And there are lakes too. Surely gambling executives have their eye on Branson, the Ozarks phenomenon that just played host to Donald Trump and his Miss U.S.A pageant.

Curiously, some of the movers and shakers in Branson are dead set against casinos in their town full of glitzy music shows. Why? Because Branson's reputation, from the very earliest days of Silver Dollar City and Uncle Matt's cabin, has been built on a sound foundation of family entertainment. In spite of all the big-name entertainers that have turned the town into a first-class travel destination, Branson continues to be a place the whole family can go.

And then there is the Missouri Legislature. Gambling produces enough revenue for the state that even more gambling is sure to sound good to a lot of legislators.

Missourians who oppose gambling know they have an uphill struggle. And they now know the price of winning elections.