Gambling interests raise the stakes to win North Carolina • NC Newsline – NC Newsline
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The author has uncovered more than $3 million that gambling interests have spent between 2022 and 2024 to influence the decisions of North Carolina lawmakers. (NC Newsline file photo)
Last year, casino builders from Las Vegas to Baltimore thought they had cracked open North Carolina for at least three new “entertainment centers,” thanks to a plan backed by the uber-powerful Sen. Phil Berger.
But then people living near proposed casino sites pushed back, particularly in Berger’s own Rockingham County. News of the industry’s pay-to-play contributions and secret meetings with politicians made folks even madder. Berger wisely put the plan on hold – but it’s still alive.
Less publicized, the plan also calls for legalizing the video poker industry – putting thousands of gambling machines in gas stations, bars, stores, mini-casino parlors. “Video lottery terminals” (VLTs) are crafted with addictive flashing lights and occasional payouts. They’re called the “crack cocaine of gambling.”
For decades, the North Carolina Sheriffs Association opposed the industry as a magnet for criminal activity – but sheriffs get a kickback from taxed VLTs in the latest legislation, so they’ve gone pretty quiet. A coalition of family value conservatives and justice minded liberals still resists, because this business preys on the low-income wannabe rich; the addiction destroys families and social decay results.
Cynically, the industry’s lobbyists in Raleigh are now telling legislators that legalizing VLTs will produce hundreds of millions in new tax revenue that will fill the deficit everyone knows is coming in about 2027 due to Republican tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy.
In other words, let the poor subsidize tax breaks for the rich. Because that’s a view many GOP legislators apparently appreciate, lobbyists hope their message will overtake longstanding concerns about gambling.
To reinforce the money message, the industry has flooded campaigns with cash, particularly in the last two years, when legalization seemed feasible after the acceptance of online sports betting. From January 2022 to March 2024, video poker and casino interests have contributed $3 million to legislators and the political committees that support them with “independent expenditures” (aka attack ads).
The $3 million includes $1.1 million in direct campaign contributions (nearly all for Republicans) and $2.1 million to GOPAC and the Republican State Leadership Committee. These two 527s (the title these groups are known by thanks to their IRS code designation) finance Citizens for a Better North Carolina, a front group guided by Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore that helps elect GOP candidates.
Here’s a sampling from my report about the $3 million:
Big money from gamblers has helped RSLC and GOPAC funnel $6 million to Citizens for a Better North Carolina since 2022. Expect more devious conduiting if lawmakers override Gov. Roy Cooper’s recent veto of House Bill 237 — a bill that would greatly loosen state campaign finance rules. Also, expect continued opposition from people worried about the personal and social corruption gambling will bring to their community.
by Bob Hall, NC Newsline
June 25, 2024
by Bob Hall, NC Newsline
June 25, 2024
Last year, casino builders from Las Vegas to Baltimore thought they had cracked open North Carolina for at least three new “entertainment centers,” thanks to a plan backed by the uber-powerful Sen. Phil Berger.
But then people living near proposed casino sites pushed back, particularly in Berger’s own Rockingham County. News of the industry’s pay-to-play contributions and secret meetings with politicians made folks even madder. Berger wisely put the plan on hold – but it’s still alive.
Less publicized, the plan also calls for legalizing the video poker industry – putting thousands of gambling machines in gas stations, bars, stores, mini-casino parlors. “Video lottery terminals” (VLTs) are crafted with addictive flashing lights and occasional payouts. They’re called the “crack cocaine of gambling.”
For decades, the North Carolina Sheriffs Association opposed the industry as a magnet for criminal activity – but sheriffs get a kickback from taxed VLTs in the latest legislation, so they’ve gone pretty quiet. A coalition of family value conservatives and justice minded liberals still resists, because this business preys on the low-income wannabe rich; the addiction destroys families and social decay results.
Cynically, the industry’s lobbyists in Raleigh are now telling legislators that legalizing VLTs will produce hundreds of millions in new tax revenue that will fill the deficit everyone knows is coming in about 2027 due to Republican tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy.
In other words, let the poor subsidize tax breaks for the rich. Because that’s a view many GOP legislators apparently appreciate, lobbyists hope their message will overtake longstanding concerns about gambling.
To reinforce the money message, the industry has flooded campaigns with cash, particularly in the last two years, when legalization seemed feasible after the acceptance of online sports betting. From January 2022 to March 2024, video poker and casino interests have contributed $3 million to legislators and the political committees that support them with “independent expenditures” (aka attack ads).
The $3 million includes $1.1 million in direct campaign contributions (nearly all for Republicans) and $2.1 million to GOPAC and the Republican State Leadership Committee. These two 527s (the title these groups are known by thanks to their IRS code designation) finance Citizens for a Better North Carolina, a front group guided by Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore that helps elect GOP candidates.
Here’s a sampling from my report about the $3 million:
Big money from gamblers has helped RSLC and GOPAC funnel $6 million to Citizens for a Better North Carolina since 2022. Expect more devious conduiting if lawmakers override Gov. Roy Cooper’s recent veto of House Bill 237 — a bill that would greatly loosen state campaign finance rules. Also, expect continued opposition from people worried about the personal and social corruption gambling will bring to their community.
NC Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. NC Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Rob Schofield for questions:
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Bob Hall is the retired executive director of the group Democracy North Carolina and a veteran government and politics watchdog.
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