MGM chief warns of political showmanship in wake of gambling report

Kiley ussell

Thursday, June 17, 1999 | 4:06 a.m.

On the eve of the publication of a federal study on gambling, MGM Grand Chairman J. Terrence Lanni has warned of an impending onslaught of political rhetoric from congressional spin doctors.

The National Gambling Impact Study Commission report contains 76 recommendations, including setting a national minimum age for gambling at 21, helping problem gamblers and curbing political contributions by the gambling industry.

But the $5 million, two-year study contains 1,000 pages of "anecdotal" descriptions of gambling and its problems that Lanni says is ripe for political "cherry picking."

"I think you're going to find that people who don't care for gambling are going to reach for these anecdotal statements to support their premises," he told a luncheon audience at the 20th annual Las Vegas Hotel and Restaurant Show on Thursday.

"For whatever point of view you have you can find some anecdotal comment to support your particular positions," said Lanni, himself a member of the commission.

The report will be presented to Congress, the White House, state governors and Indian tribes. It is to be released Friday.

From Lanni's point of view, the most significant recommendation is one that would keep the federal government out of the business of regulating the industry.

"Every single recommendation that we made said that the states are best able to deal with legalized gambling and you don't need federal regulation and you don't need federal taxation," he said.

But longtime gambling foe Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., is already touting proposals to levy a 1 percent tax on revenues to fund gambling addiction treatment and to forbid betting on amateur and college sports.

"So Frank and I will probably have some interesting opportunities in the future to disagree on a number of subjects," Lanni said.

Congress created the commission in 1996 after opponents of the industry charged the spread of casinos and other forms of gambling was taking a social toll on the nation, including increased bankruptcies, suicides and crime.

But the studies conducted over the last two years "overwhelmingly proved that the vast majority of Americans do not gamble or do not have any problems associated with gambling," Lanni said.