No dice

Who would have bet James Dobson would become chummy with a certified liberal like ex-California Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy? What are the odds that the Focus on the Family founder would cite a left-wing magazine like Mother Jones to underscore a point about morality in politics? These are the kinds of unlikely co-belligerencies forged over two years among members of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, which was scheduled to issue its final report on June 18. The panel asked whether legalized gambling is a ticket to regional economic prosperity or an addictive blight. It concluded, on a 5-4 vote, that there should be a moratorium on the expansion of legalized gambling in America, one that would allow states "to stop, take a deep breath, and evaluate what has happened so quickly with this epidemic of gambling," said Focus on the Family president James Dobson, who served on the commission. "Many of the decisions to expand gambling enterprises," he added, "have been made without careful consideration of potential harm and implications for families, and for the economy in general." It was rampant gambling expansion-and the gambling industry's influence on politics, the economy, crime, and other social ills-that first prompted concern on Capitol Hill earlier this decade. Some form of gambling, whether casinos, lotteries, bingo, or Indian gambling, is now legal in 47 states. Since 1982, gambling revenues have jumped from just over $10 billion to nearly $51 billion annually, according to International Gaming and Wagering Business magazine. (The gambling industry prefers the word gaming, as if the subject of discussion were hopscotch.) Americans now wager nearly $600 billion a year-at least $100 billion a year more than is spent on food. In the face of this burgeoning industrial behemoth, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) led a congressional call for in-depth government scrutiny of legal gambling. When the bill authorizing the commission finally passed in 1996, it was with bipartisan rancor. Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Sen. Richard Bryan (D-Nev.), and other lawmakers with significant gambling interests in their home states dug in their heels to prevent the bill's passage. When the commission finally cleared all legislative hurdles, its list of appointees read like a political rainbow. Christian conservatives like James Dobson and Robertson School of Government dean Kay Coles James anchored the panel at one end. Staunch gambling advocates like William Bible, former head of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, made up the other side, with liberals like Leo McCarthy, a former California lieutenant governor, in the middle out of expressions of concern for the poor. Not only was the commission itself divided, but a peanut gallery of interested parties formed on the sidelines (see sidebar, next page). On the issue of political contributions by gambling interests, for example, American Gaming Association president Frank Fahrenkopf vociferously opposed commission conservatives, both behind the scenes and in the media. "I'm a Knight of Malta in the Catholic Church, and I don't need Jim Dobson to tell me what's moral," Mr. Fahrenkopf told The Washington Times in January. "And we're not going to apologize for trying to influence political elections." For his part, Dr. Dobson said he favored even stricter sanctions against political contributions by gambling interests than were ultimately included in the commission's final report. "Our recommendations didn't go nearly as far as I would have liked," he said. "There is an enormous amount of money flowing into both political parties and into states where entrepreneurs are attempting to influence the electoral process. It has an enormous impact on decision makers because money is the mother's milk of politics." In the end, moderates and conservatives united to form a bare and often beleaguered majority. As a result, the commission's 300-page report turned out to be a mixed bag of 70 recommendations, including these: