filed under Democracy | Election 2008 | Games
Foxwoods Craps King McCain is “founding father of Indian gaming”
2:56AM ON
09/29/2008
BY
Ari Savitzky
You heard it here first! And by here, I mean the New York Times, which leads this snappy piece on McCain’s pervasive influence over one of his favorite past-times - legally dropping thousands of dollars on the roll of the dice - with a vignette of the maverick from gambletown in his natural environment: surrounded by high roller lobbyists at a private craps table at Foxwoods:
Senator John McCain was on a roll. In a room reserved for high-stakes gamblers at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, he tossed $100 chips around a hot craps table. When the marathon session ended around 2:30 a.m., the Arizona senator and his entourage emerged with thousands of dollars in winnings.
While this article is pure gold simply for referring to McCain as a “lifelong/high-stakes gambler,” thereby reinforcing the image of the senator (pictured here at a Bellagio craps table) drunkenly gambling America’s future away like the deed to one of his many, many houses, there’s also some good reporting here on how the Indian gaming industry came to be, and to be so powerful. Turns out McCain’s played a big role, taking favors, and directions, from plenty of unseemly lobbyists along the way, many of whom are still big-time supporters and advisers.
Mr. McCain was betting at a casino he oversaw as a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and he was doing so with the lobbyist who represents that casino, according to three associates of Mr. McCain.
The visit had been arranged by the lobbyist, Scott Reed, who works for the Mashantucket Pequot, a tribe that has contributed heavily to Mr. McCain’s campaigns and built Foxwoods into the world’s second-largest casino. Joining them was Rick Davis, Mr. McCain’s current campaign manager. Their night of good fortune epitomized not just Mr. McCain’s affection for gambling, but also the close relationship he has built with the gambling industry and its lobbyists during his 25-year career in Congress.
As a two-time chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, Mr. McCain has done more than any other member of Congress to shape the laws governing America’s casinos, helping to transform the once-sleepy Indian gambling business into a $26-billion-a-year behemoth with 423 casinos across the country. He has won praise as a champion of economic development and self-governance on reservations.
“One of the founding fathers of Indian gaming” is what Steven Light, a University of North Dakota professor and a leading Indian gambling expert, called Mr. McCain.
Do you know what all this means? If we had only voted yes on the Casino, John McCain would have come and gambled in Rhode Island!!! Quick, does Twin River have craps?
Write a Comment