At least $ 6,400,000 -- Includes federal soft money contributions

by Eric Umansky

June 9, 1997

Uncle Sam has mostly left the sticky business of regulating gambling to the states. So why has the gambling industry given at least $6.4 million in federal soft money contributions over the last four years? Because the industry sure wouldn't mind if the folks in D.C. sit around and drink coffee instead of taking on the rise of gambling.

But the industry hasn't completely escaped Washington's scrutiny. Their main worry: the National Gambling Impact Study Commission. The focus of intense lobbying, the nine-member Commission will study the social and economic impacts of the rise of gambling, and then make recommendations. The creation of the Commission, the first federally sponsored gambling study since 1974, was initially opposed by the gambling lobby, but when they lost that battle, they focused on making sure that their interests would be represented.

The American Gaming Association (AGA), the industry's main lobby, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to influence the selection of Commission members. As a result of their of lavish spending, the Commission includes, among others, the "Vegas Three": J. Terrence Lanni, CEO of MGM Grand, Bill Bible, chairman of the Nevada Gambling Control Board, and John Wilhelm, secretary-treasurer of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees International Union, heavily represented in hotel-rich Las Vegas.

Native Americans gambling interests also figure prominently on the federal level. The Mashantucket Pequot tribe, for example, which runs the massive Foxwoods casino in Connecticut, has given both parties more than $1 million in federal soft money since 1993. What do they want for their money? The tribes are hoping to change laws requiring them to sign gambling compacts with states before they can operate casinos on their land.

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