Brief: Legislature avoids casino education

Friday, Jan. 15, 1999 | 11:28 a.m.

The Commercial Appeal newspaper in Memphis, Tenn., reported the Mississippi Senate Education Committee approved a measure allowing instruction in areas like casino management and accounting.

The bill would not allow schools to teach students how to gamble.

But Committee Chairman Grey Ferris, a Democrat from Vicksburg, said enough opposition has surfaced in the full Senate that the measure is probably dead.

While the gaming industry complains it must import employees with specific skills, opponents of the legislation said it would subsidize the industry and encourage gambling.

"We're giving in to casinos. We're giving them everything they ask for. I don't see the need to use tax dollars to train casino workers," Sen. Alan Nunnelee, R-Tupelo, told the Commercial Appeal.

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