Topeka ? It was the session’s last hurrah for gambling, and it ended with a whimper as House members rejected efforts Wednesday to set the stage for debating whether to allow casinos and slot machines at horse and dog tracks.

Throughout the session, expanded gambling was touted as a way to bring additional revenue to the state. However, as economic forecasts grew rosier and funding schools turned out to be less difficult than first thought, the gambling issue took a back seat to other legislation.

On the last day of the Legislature’s wrap-up session, Rep. Doug Gatewood, D-Columbus, gave it another try. But having a debate required the chamber to pull up a bill that could become a gambling measure.

Members voted 72-44 against doing that, ending the gambling debate before it could start.

“They’ve exhausted all efforts in the House,” said Speaker Doug Mays, R-Topeka.

Throughout the session, Mays had said any gambling vote would be close in his chamber.

But many lawmakers viewed the vote not so much as a rejection of gambling as opposition to taking up such a dicey issue as they tried to end the wrap-up session on its 15th day.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius talks with the media Wednesday about what the Kansas Legislature accomplished this session. She spoke in her office at the Statehouse.

The plan Gatewood wanted to offer would have limited expanded gambling to the eastern side of the state, although that could have been expanded by amendments.

It called for one casino in the Kansas City area and another in southeast Kansas, plus slot machines at pari-mutuel tracks in Kansas City and Frontenac.

The casinos would have been owned by the Kansas Lottery, which would have hired management companies to run them. Those companies would have paid a $35 million licensing fee upon signing a contract. Also, a $200 million minimum investment would be required.

The tracks would pay $15,000 up front for each slot, and that money would be deducted from what the tracks owe the state. It also included a five-year moratorium on additional gambling in the state.

In March, the Senate leaders got behind a gambling plan to help fund public schools. But they came up short, with only 16 of the 40 senators supporting it. They vowed not to revisit the issue unless assured the votes were there.

But the issue wouldn’t go away. Another gambling bill had a hearing in a House committee, though that was as far as it went. Nevertheless, gambling lobbyists remained at the Statehouse, hoping for a chance to try again.

The state has a lottery and allows betting on dog and horse races. Also, four American Indian tribes operate casinos on their reservations in northeast Kansas.

There are also gambling boats in the Kansas City, Mo., area and Indian casinos in Oklahoma.