Sin Cities on a Hill

How legalized gambling moved from the Strip to Main Street.

Greg Beato from the May 2006 issue

(Page 5 of 5)

The Abramoff Factor

>And then, of course, there's Jack Abramoff. Based on results if not intentions, the crooked lobbyist was actually a fairly effective anti-gambling operative. His first achievement: teaming up with fellow lobbyist Michael Scanlon and charging six Indian tribes an astonishing $82 million for three years of extremely part-time work, thereby draining them of funds they might have used more effectively to promote their gaming operations. His second achievement: using Ralph Reed, the former director of the Christian Coalition, to enlist Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, and other conservative activists to oppose gambling expansion in various Southern states. Sure, Abramoff was simply trying to protect his gaming tribe clients from increased competition—a fact the conservative activists insist they didn't know—but that doesn't mean he didn't help stop gaming expansion.

Even so, gambling opponents are casting Abramoff as the enemy and trying to parlay the general stink surrounding him into legislative action. "If the nation's politicians don't fix this national disaster [of legalized gambling], then the oceans of gambling money with which Jack Abramoff tried to buy influence on Capitol Hill will only be the beginning of the corruption we'll see," Dobson declared in a January press release, carefully overlooking his own involvement in Abramoff's efforts. "We need courageous office holders who will begin the process of shutting down lotteries, casinos and other gambling outlets."

Don't expect the intramural finger-pointing to end anytime soon. "There's a fissure between corporate conservatives and social conservatives—and gambling is that fissure," Grey exclaims. "You've got Tom DeLay, Ralph Reed, and [Americans for Tax Reform President] Grover Norquist at the feeding trough, taking money from gambling. On the other hand, you've got James Dobson, Phyllis Schlafly—social conservatives who oppose gambling. Once this issue becomes more visible nationally, people are going to start wondering, 'Where do the Republicans stand?' This business is being driven by politicians and promoters in backrooms for their own enrichment. I've never met a grassroots movement that wants more gambling."

It's true. All across America, there are tiny, underfunded groups of citizens who've come together to battle proposed Indian casinos or to protest the addition of slot machines at the local racetrack. But grassroots groups that want more gambling? There are none. Unless, of course, you count the thousands of people who fill Las Vegas' hotel rooms every night. Or the millions who watch professional poker games on cable. Or the tens of millions who buy lottery tickets every week.

A grassroots movement for gambling does exist in America, and it has existed for hundreds of years. Its members may not paint signs and organize rallies, but every day, week in and week out, year after year, they perform the most significant political act of all: They vote with their wallets.