The gaming industry, both commercial and tribal, has grown increasingly influential in state and even federal elections in the last two decades since Indian gaming burst on the scene in California.
At a recent TV appearance CEO Jim Murren of MGM Resorts International, spokes of his support for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. On the same show Carl Icahn, an investor in several casino companies, spoke of his support for Donald Trump.
The point, as writers Alexandra Berzon and Kate O’Keeffe noted in their Wall Street Journal piece, is that neither speaker talked about gaming. It has become OK for gaming companies to play publicly in the political sandbox.
This reflects the fact that commercial gaming is a $40 billion industry. Four years ago Las Vegas Sands Corp. owner Sheldon Adelson donated $100 million to Republicans and some people were scandalized. Today gaming is so respectable that none dare criticize its involvement in national politics. However, there are still opponents of gaming, and they haven’t failed to notice that Hillary Clinton made a recent appearance in Atlantic City, where she chided Trump for his bankruptcies, but not for his profession.
“Our jobs are every bit as patriotic as auto worker jobs,” said Murren during the TV show.
Gaming executives have always been fierce proponents of their industry, but never so much in the sunlight as today. More than 40 states host casinos of some sort. The American Gaming Association, instead of defending casinos, is now holding events to publicize the benefits of gaming.
AGA executive director Geoff Freeman told the Journal, “For too long the industry has flown beneath the radar screen and didn’t want to attract attention. That’s a missed opportunity.”
As Carrie Gordon Darll of Focus on the Family put it, Once gambling is in a state, it’s hard to remove it.”
