Columnist Jon Ralston: Casino industry joins big-game politics

Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2000 | 9:56 a.m.

Jon Ralston, who publishes the Ralston Report, writes a column for the Sun on Sundays and Wednesdays. Ralston can be reached at 870-7997 or by e-mail at ralston@vegas.com.

You hear the Strip doyens talk about it all the time, how they have ratcheted up their influence on Capitol Hill, mostly through their conversion of a percentage of gaming winnings into campaign contributions to congressmen and senators.

But not until recently has there been a comprehensive study of just how much the casino industry gives to federal races and how the gamers rank in relation to other major donors. The Center for Responsive Politics has compiled information on 123 industries and their contributions through individual, political action committee and soft money contributions during the last decade. The numbers are revealing and, in a sense, humbling for the gamers.

The center found that the industry has given a total of $24.1 million in contributions since 1990, with $14 million coming from soft money given to parties and their adjuncts, about $3 million from PACs and just under $7 million from individual gamers. During the last decade, the gamers have split their money fairly evenly between the parties, with 51 percent going to Republicans and 49 percent to Democrats.

In the 2000 election cycle, the current totals tallied by the center indicate that the gamers have ponied up $6 million, about two-thirds of that in soft money contributions, and 54 percent of the aggregate going to the GOP, which controls Congress.

"This controversial industry contributes big political dollars from a relatively small donor pool, comprised of casinos, racetracks and Indian gaming operations," it says on the center's website at www.opensecrets.org.

"As gambling has become more geographically widespread, the industry's largesse to federal candidates and parties has risen dramatically since the early 1990s. This, despite the fact the most political decisions affecting the industry are made at the state and local level."

Oh? Ever hear of Treasury regulations? Or an NCAA wagering ban measure? Or one of those little amendments to an obscure tax bill in Ways and Means? On the website, the center lists the top 20 gaming donors, the names of which will not surprise you. The first six are Nevada-based companies, led by Mirage Resorts ($721,406) and Mandalay Resort Group ($473,300). But a handful of Indian tribes, who have mimicked the gamers' giving patterns, are on the list, including the Mashantucket Pequots ($99,868) who run the megaprofitable Foxwoods casino, and the Florida Seminoles ($285,000), who have fought for tribal resort rights for years. The American Gaming Association ($82,200) also sneaked onto the list.

If it's not difficult to guess who the major gaming donors are, the top recipients also will not raise eyebrows. The gamers are most in love with one of their own, ex-Rep. John Ensign, who has received $313,949 this year.

Democrat Ed Bernstein, running against Ensign, the son of Mandalay Resort Group chairmen Mike Ensign and a gamer in his own right before he started spaying cats and dogs again, took in only $20,250 from the casinos. No one, in fact, comes close to Ensign's total. New Jersey Senate hopeful William Gormley is second with $186,225. Ensign truly is the standard-bearer for the industry, which, according to the center, so far has given to 135 House members and 46 senators.

The eye-opening part of the study, however, is when the gaming donations are put in context with the other industries whose contributions the center catalogued. No industry has come as far as the casinos in the last decade, moving from $361,169 in 1990 to this year's $6 million figure. But consider where that number puts the gamers in relation to other prominent industries. Here are a few examples:

Banks have given $13 million this election cycle. Insurance companies have unloaded $27 million. Oil and gas consortiums have written checks totaling almost $20 million. And the much-reviled pharmaceuticals have uncorked just under $15 million during the 2000 cycle.

The perspective is jarring. The gamers may have become players on the capital scene and have acquired influence through lobbying prowess and selective use of donations. But in that arena, unlike their fiefdoms in Carson City and Las Vegas, they remain dwarves.