Good News on Gambling

                                                                                                                                                                        Vol. XII, No. 7, August 1999

Nearly 5,000 of Louisiana's 15,000 video poker machines were shut down as a result of a 1996 referendum taking effect, and the South Carolina legislature approved a proposal that would provide voters an opportunity in November to ban the state's 34,000 machines.

In Louisiana, 4,874 machines in 33 parishes were closed down July 1. Voters in those parishes, the equivalent of counties in other states, voted to ban video gambling machines in a referendum that allowed each parish to decide if it wanted to keep them. The state has 64 parishes.

South Carolina has more video gambling machines than any other state. An expensive, aggressive campaign to defeat the attempt to prohibit the machines is expected from the video gambling industry. If voters do not ban video poker, new regulations on the practice will take effect and the state will collect an estimated $180 million a year in taxes from the industry.

Barrett Duke, anti-gambling specialist for the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, called the Louisiana action "a major victory for the people." "These electronic bandits have pillaged communities throughout the country," Duke said. "While no form of gambling is an asset to society, video poker machines represent the very worst of the gambling industry. Louisiana will see near immediate positive benefits in the communities where these machines have been shut down.” "I look forward to the citizens of South Carolina following Louisiana's lead in November by kicking out the entire video poker menace," Duke said.

South Carolina's video gambling industry has become politically powerful in less than a decade. Former Gov. David Beasley sought to rid the state of the machines, calling them "a cancer." The industry helped bankroll the campaign of Democratic challenger Jim Hodges, who defeated Beasley last year. After the election, USA Today reported its investigation showed gambling contributions "lifted a little-known candidate and his moribund party to victory" in a Republican state. About half of the $6 million spent in the Hodges campaign came from video poker operators, according to USA Today. [BP]