Top Democratic legislative leaders in Connecticut say they will work to repeal a law authorizing Keno in the state. That’s after they supported last year’s budget that included the gambling initiative.

House Speaker Brendan Sharkey says Keno never had a lot of support, and he says the current budget surplus provides an opportunity.

“No one was particularly enthusiastic about doing Keno, and – of course – a lot of folks are very concerned about it,” Sharkey says. “So now that we are in a kind of a new world, where we have a little more room under the budget given the surplus that we have, I think it’s probably appropriate at this point to repeal it.”

Senate Republican leader and candidate for governor John McKinney says he’s happy to hear Sharkey’s comments.

“It’s a bad bet for the people of the state of Connecticut,” McKinney says of the game. “And so having the speaker talk about eliminating Keno it before it starts is good news.”

Gov. Dannel Malloy said last week it was not his idea to bring keno terminals to the state. He suggested he would sign a bill to repeal the legislation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.