Gaming panel sets first meeting

Friday, June 6, 1997 | 5:47 a.m.

The National Gambling Impact Study Commission has scheduled its first meeting for June 20 in Washington.

Chairwoman Kay Cole James today released an agenda for the meeting, which will take place at the L'Enfant Plaza.

The meeting is said to be an organizational one, and will include topics such as finding an executive director and staff to run the nine-member panel's daily affairs.

But the session, which will last from 8:30 a.m. until 2 p.m., also is expected to include some battles over the direction the study will take.

The panel has pro-gambling and anti-gambling members.

James is on record against gambling, but she has pledged to conduct fair hearings.

Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., a leading anti-gambling advocate who authored legislation creating the commission, is expected to be among those addressing the panel at its inaugural meeting.

The nine commission members are expected to discuss previous gambling studies and a work plan for the commission in the months ahead.

Three panel members with ties to gaming are on the panel. State Gaming Control Board Chairman Bill Bible, MGM Grand Inc. Chairman Terry Lanni and John Wilhelm, secretary-treasurer of the international Culinary Union, all plan to attend.

A dinner to allow the nine commission members to get acquainted has been set for the evening of June 19 in Washington.

The commission has $4 million to study the social and economic impacts of legalized gambling in communities across the country.