Imagine the legendary chicken business owner Frank Perdue, when asked if he ate the poultry he sold, responded by spitting on the floor and declaring his chicken was “for losers.” What business would ever say that about their product or service? Only one. The gambling business.
When The New York Times asked a slot machine designer at International Gaming Technology if he ever plays the machines he builds, “he acted as if I had insulted him. ‘Slots are for losers,’ he spat.”
The actions of the IGT employee are not an isolated case. Commercialized gambling is the only business where most of the people who own it and promote it don’t use it and don’t want to live near it.
It’s like the executives of the failed energy giant Enron – infamously known as “The Smartest Guys in the Room”– standing in front of their employees assuring them their retirement funds invested in the company are a good bet while at the same time, they were selling millions of dollars of their own stock because they knew it was a sure loser. The owners and promoters of commercialized gambling are “The Smartest Guys NOT in the Room.”
These hypocrites cause life-changing financial losses for millions of American citizens. People like Sandy Hall, who had the courage to be interviewed as part of a 60 Minutes investigation into slot machines. Her life was reduced to almost nothing because of slots.
Below are the hallowed members of The Hypocrite Hall of Fame. To read more about each Hall of Famer, click on the arrow following the member’s name.
HYPOCRITE HALL OF FAMERS WHO ARE GAMBLING OPERATORS OR PAID BY THEIR PROFITS
In this June 2011 story by Casino Enterprise Management, Adelson, the casino billionaire, says he gambles only on vacation when he is on an island and takes only $500 with him – a far cry from those local citizens who are now gambling at his Bethlehem (PA) Sands Casino between 150 to 200 times a year.
Excerpted from The Boston Globe, April 21, 2008:
“Ted’s Stateline Mobil is the King Kong of Massachusetts Lottery agents. The store sold $12.6 million worth of lottery tickets in 2007, millions more than any of the other 7,500 or so bars, restaurants, and convenience stores that sell lottery tickets in the state. Owners Ted and Tony Amico earned a staggering $625,000 on the standard 5 percent commission lottery agents receive for all lottery ticket sales, not including a 1 percent commission on all his customers’ winnings. The average store owner made about $37,000.
As for Tony Amico, he said he does not play the lottery much. “Once in a while, when the jackpot’s really big, I buy a ticket like everybody else,” he said. “That’s it.'”
Bluhm owns many casinos in the US. Does this billionaire lose any of his fortune gambling inside casinos? According to this excerpt taken from The Chicago Tribune:
“As Neil Bluhm walked through the sophisticated high-roller lounge of his newest casino Thursday, I asked him, ‘Do you ever gamble?’ ‘No,’ he said, prompting his gaming chief to remind the Chicago billionaire about a trip to Las Vegas last fall. So Bluhm supplied a different answer. ‘I gamble putting one of these deals together,’ he said with zeal. ‘I spent millions of dollars not knowing whether we were going to have a casino. So do I gamble? Yes.'”
Penn National has been an influential player across the country in lobbying for small regional casinos that extract hundreds of millions of dollars of wealth from ordinary Americans. Their profit model is based on getting people to gamble away their money at least 4-5 times per week.
Carlino has been at the helm as Penn National metastasized across the US in recent years. Does he gamble away any of his own wealth? Carlino confessed to a Boston Globe reporter in September 2013: “I’m not a gambler.”
Cordish profits from a business that makes more than half its money from gambling addicts and spends millions of dollars marketing to gamblers who chase their losses– those gamblers who lost the money they came with and then hit the casino ATM to withdraw their savings to lose even more.
Yet in this Baltimore Sun Magazine article, Cordish reveals he is barely a gambler himself. If all his casino patrons gambled like he does, his casino would be out of business: “When I go to gamble, I take $100. When the $100 is gone, it’s gone. If I get ahead, at some point I quit. I think that’s how 99 percent of the world gambles. [Gambling] is just a form of recreation.”
From The New York Times Magazine cover story written by Gary Rivlin, May 9, 2004:
“Most of the people I met inside I.G.T. told me they never played slot machines on their own time… Even one corporate P.R. staff member couldn’t resist shaking her head in disbelief as she described scenes of people lining up to play a new machine. ”It was unfathomable to me,” she told me. When I asked one I.G.T. artist if he ever plays, he acted as if I had insulted him. “Slots are for losers,” he spat, and then, coming to his senses, begged me to consider that an off-the-record comment.
”It’s the slot machine that drives the industry today,” Fahrenkopf said in this 2004 New York Times story. Yet despite being the lead spokesman for the predatory gambling operators of America, here is what he had to say later in the same story about his trade’s primary money maker:
“Fahrenkopf is reportedly paid in seven figures to praise all things casino, but he can’t seem to help taking a poke at the slot machine. He views the transition from table games to slots as symptomatic of the dumbing down of American life. Playing craps means learning a complex set of rules. Blackjack may be easy to learn, but it still requires skill and concentration, and it’s not uncommon for the novice player to feel stupid in front of strangers. ‘I don’t know if it’s the education system, or maybe it’s that we as a society have gotten intellectually lazy,’ says Fahrenkopf, who headed the Republican National Committee under Ronald Reagan. ‘But people would rather just sit there and push a button.'”
Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Fahrenkopf, the one-time head of the casino lobby, shockingly said he would oppose a casino near where he lives in Virginia.
Fields was a co-developer of the Seminole casino in Florida and as part owner of Suffolk Downs horse track in Boston, was a driving force for casinos in Massachusetts. Yet in a jaw-dropping admission to The Boston Globe, Fields confessed that he has “never gambled.” Fields went on: “It’s so funny—I just don’t do that. It’s not for any reason other than it’s not in my psyche. I go to Vegas or any of these places and I’ll go through the projects and find them really interesting and exciting. But I’m a developer and sort of an entertainment guy, and I’ll look at this from the standpoint of how do you make sure people have a good time? But it never occurs to me to gamble. Isn’t that interesting?”
DraftKings and other “daily fantasy sports” companies are really online gambling operators.
DraftKings has never turned a profit but they survive for now because they intend to become an online sportsbook if the U.S. legalizes sports betting.
Despite their efforts to get millions of young people hooked on sports gambling, are the founders of DraftKings hardcore gamblers themselves?
One of the founders of DraftKings confessed to The Boston Globe that “I had never even stepped foot in a casino. The three of us have computer science degrees. We’re a bunch of dorks that wanted to build something cool.”
Stanley Ho is an Asian billionaire casino magnate who is considered the father of modern gambling in China. (New Jersey casino regulators found Ho had extensive ties to organized crime in China and their suspicions led MGM Mirage to agree in 2010 to sell its half of Atlantic City’s top casino — rather than abandon the lucrative Chinese market, where it has a joint venture with Ho’s daughter.)
Ho was interviewed by CNN TalkAsia which aired on October 2, 2004. Here is the full interview and below is what he told the interviewer about his frequency of losing his own money on gambling:
LH: Welcome back to TalkAsia. Some call Stanley Ho the patriarch of Macau. That’s because in the past forty years, he’s developed some of Macau’s most famous landmarks and key infrastructure, including the main bridge and international airport. In recognition of his contributions, the government has named an avenue after him. But I can’t help wonder what the man behind the businessman, is really like.
SH: What am I like? Well I am very normal; the only difference is I don’t gamble.
LH: For sure right?
SH: I don’t gamble at all, all my life. I am only interested in sports.
LH: Even the king of gambling?
SH: Well I enjoy this name, but to be very frank I don’t deserve this casino king, I don’t gamble, how can I be the casino king?
From a column written by The Providence Journal’s M. Charles Bakst, May 13, 2004:
Former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones, a top aide at Harrah’s Entertainment, the Narragansetts’ partner, said yesterday that she’s offended by the notion that casinos are filled with “unhappy, depressed, sort of hypnotically drugged people.”
Jones said, “Sometime I’ll take you to the movies in Las Vegas. I want you to look at the people sitting in there. And, you know, some of them are grossly overweight and a lot of them don’t look that happy and some of them aren’t as attractive and well dressed as they should be. But should I make assumptions about all moviegoers because some of them aren’t what you would expect?”
Jones said she doesn’t gamble. “I’d rather spend my money on shoes. And houses.” (She has three homes.) So she wants you to gamble, but she’s too smart and thinks you’re stupid? Jones laughed, “That’s like saying I like to go out and buy Manolo Blahnik shoes but you don’t. Does that make you stupid or does that mean you just aren’t into shoes?”
As the head of Genting, Lim has helped to drive well-financed, relentless lobbying efforts to allow casinos in several states including New York, Florida and Massachusetts. Worth close to a billion dollars, does Lim regularly lose any of his personal fortune on his own “service?”
According to The Business Times Singapore on December 2, 2006, Lim said: ” Life is full of gambles but I’m not a hard-core gambler.”
Loveman, the man who was paid $40 million in one year for encouraging millions of Americans to lose their money during this severe financial crisis, does not gamble. As Wall Street Journal Christina Binkley reported in her book “Winner Takes All” (Pg. 177):
“There was a fundamental disconnect between Loveman and his customers. The professor believed that people were gambling for recreation, so he didn’t expect them to feel so upset about losing their money. He believed gambling was games. Loveman isn’t a gambler and has never been a gambler. He can analyze customers’ behavior but he doesn’t get them deep in his belly.”
At MGM Grand, Murren leads one of the world’s largest casino operations. He is also a strong proponent of legalizing online gambling, especially in social media.
But how likely is this multimillionaire to lose his own money gambling? The New York Times reported in this December 24, 2006 story: “Murren doesn’t play the tables or slot machines.”
The late Si Redd, the man known as “the King of Slots” for designing the modern slot machine, did not even play the machines he invented according to this excerpt in The Las Vegas Sun from June 25, 2001:
“Si Redd says he listens intently to, and reads reports of, the gaming device that has become known as the “crack cocaine of gambling” because of its highly addictive nature.
‘Of course it hurts me when such things are said, I guess because it is kind of the truth,’ Redd said. ‘I never intended it to become that way, and I never could have dreamed of how successful the video poker machine would become.’
Although he is a member of the Gaming Hall of Fame, Redd today has little to do with gaming. He sold his interest in IGT as an octogenarian and opened a rival company, International Technical Systems Inc., which is no longer in business.
He does not even play the machines he invented.
Redd’s concept of the 99 percent payout on dollar slots drew millions of people who otherwise never would have put a coin into the one-armed bandits.
All the while, Redd had to overcome his knowledge that his mother did not approve of the fortune he was making off customers of the gaming industry. ‘I kept sending her more and more money, yet she would just give it away to people as poor as she was,’ Redd said.”
Reilly is a key leader of the NCRG, a wing of the casinos’ main trade group, the American Gaming Association, that funds most of the scientific research on gambling addiction in the United States. The NCRG has helped casinos gain a legal foothold across the country — and covered up the ways casinos profit from gambling addiction.
Does Reilly lose any of her casino-funded salary using slot machines? According to this story that appeared in Salon on June 16, 2008, Reilly said: “I play a slot machine for ten minutes and I’m so bored I want to shoot myself.”
Silver has been the champion for widespread sports gambling among the professional sports commissioners.
During a speech in Las Vegas in July 2014, five months before he published an op-ed piece in The New York Times where he announced his endorsement of government-sanctioned sports betting, Silver declared: “I personally enjoy being here, although I don’t gamble as the Commissioner of the NBA for the record.”
Donald Trump made enormous profits by encouraging citizens to lose their money inside his casinos.
Despite his involvement in the casino business, Trump himself does not lose his own money on commercialized gambling games.
According to a New York Magazine article titled “Fighting Back: Trump Scrambles off the Canvas” from November 9, 1992 (page 42): “He [Trump] does not gamble.”
Wynn told Charlie Rose in this 2009 60 Minutes interview: “The only way to win in a casino is to own one.” And he says, even when people are lucky, they usually gamble away their winnings.
“Have you never known in your entire life a gambler who comes here and wins big and…walks away?” Rose asked. “Never,” Wynn replied.
“You know nobody hardly that over the stretch of time is ahead?” Rose asked. “Nope,” Wynn said.
HYPOCRITE HALL OF FAMERS WHO ARE POLITICIANS
Barton was the chief sponsor of legislation that would open a poker casino in every home, office, dorm room and smart phone in America.
While Barton has said he is an occasional poker player in a social setting, he said he does not gamble online with his own money. He has no personal experience with the incredible speed, the intensity of the high, the frequency of play, the enormous amount of money lost and the highly predatory marketing involved with internet poker.
Bonacic has dutifully served the interests of predatory gambling operators as much as any legislator from any U.S. state. Whether it’s been casinos, online gambling, daily fantasy sports gambling or sports betting, Bonacic has carried their special interest legislation year after year.
But does Bonacic waste his own money on the commercial gambling schemes? In an appearance on “Up Close” with ABC Channel 7’s Diana Williams on Sunday, October 27th, 2013, Ms. Williams asked him that question.
Bonacic responded by admitting he doesn’t gamble but did offer that he buys stocks, as if investing in Apple or Microsoft was the same as blowing his own cash on $30 NY Lottery scratch tickets.
As State Treasurer, Cahill was a relentless advocate for casinos and the State Lottery in Massachusetts. Does Cahill lose any of his own money on government’s predatory gambling program?
Here’s what he told Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen in this Sept. 24, 2007 story: “I don’t gamble. I never have.”
Campbell has been a vocal co-sponsor of legislation in the U.S. House that would open the door to predatory internet gambling by legalizing for-profit online poker sites. He has said that legalizing and regulating online poker would create jobs in the U.S.
But while he is working hard to allow gambling interests to target his constituents through the internet, Campbell has acknowledged he does not lose his own money on gambling.
On February 8, 2011, Chafee told WPRI Channel 12: “I don’t go to the Twin River myself but having toured it, when you see the acres of machines in there, you think what’s the difference between live tables and what’s here? So I don’t think it’s a significant change from what exists there.”
When he was the Florida governor, Crist made the expansion of casinos one of his top priorities.
When Crist was asked whether he loses his own money on government’s gambling program, according to this story excerpt from The Orlando Sun-Sentinel: “He laughed. ‘I don’t gamble,’ he (Crist) said.”
As Senate President, Cullerton has been a leading advocate for a massive expansion of casino gambling across Illinois.
When asked if he’s a gambling man himself in this interview on a Chicago news program from Sept. 19, 2011, Cullerton responded: “I’m not.”
Cuomo has tried to brand himself as a man with “a vision for a progressive future” yet legalizing commercial casinos has been a top priority of his administration. Cuomo doesn’t lose his own money gambling in casinos, though.
From The New York Post: “Cuomo himself yesterday revealed that he last gambled in a casino “many, many years ago — and I lost.” He also told reporters he’s never laid down a wager at any of New York’s nine racinos and hasn’t played the state-sponsored lottery in ‘months.'”
D’Allesandro has been a long-time champion for casinos and other forms of predatory gambling. No one has filed more legislation on behalf of powerful gambling interests in his state.
But does D’Allesandro gamble away his money? He confessed to an Associated Press reporter in 2014: “I don’t gamble.”
After assuming the role of Speaker of the Massachusetts House, DeLeo’s number one priority was to legalize casinos and slot parlors in the state. How many times had he been to a casino in his life? In a WCVB-TV interview on September 25, 2011, the 61-year-old conceded that “I’ve only been in a casino twice in my life and one of those times was for a boxing match.”
While many of his constituents will be losing money at casinos more than 200 times a year like what is happening in Philadelphia, how likely is he to lose his own money at one of the casinos he pushed so hard to legalize?
According to this Boston Globe story from April 11, 2010:
“But DeLeo learned other lessons from his father, too, ones he has not spoken about as publicly. Even though Al DeLeo loved the track, he recognized its dangers, to the point that he forbade his son from gambling. Robert DeLeo remembers one occasion when he bet on a horse, won, and bragged to his father.
“I was as proud as a peacock,” he said in a recent interview. “I said, `Hey, Dad, I won a race.’ And he looked at me and said, `You’re going to lose too many. I don’t want to hear it. Don’t even go there, pal.’ ”
As mayor, Elia supported casinos but she did not gamble herself. According to a story in The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle written by Jim Memmott on Sunday June 24, 2001:
“Mayor Irene Elia of Niagara Falls, a supporter of the casino, said she too, is concerned about possible impacts. ‘We have to monitor it -we have to make sure the casino has a positive impact.’ Elia added she is no gambler.”
Ellis has been an active proponent to legalize casinos in Texas. But does he lose his own money on the government’s program of predatory gambling?
According to The Wall Street Journal, March 2, 2009: “Mr. Ellis said he doesn’t gamble, but that a lot of his constituents do — and he doesn’t want them spending that cash in neighboring Louisiana or New Mexico.”
As a member of Congress, Frank was a leading proponent of legalizing internet gambling yet he said he does not lose his own money gambling. Below is an excerpt from a front page story on internet gambling that appeared in The Boston Globe, July 13, 2008:
“Barney Frank does not play poker or blackjack. The games bore him, and he thinks he would be terrible at them even if he tried. He’s never played a slot machine, doesn’t go to casinos, and has never tried to gamble online.
“I wouldn’t place a bet with your money,” he said. And yet, over the past year, the Democratic congressman from Newton has quietly become a cult hero for poker players and the online gambling industry – the pit boss of poker politics – by championing their cause on Capitol Hill.”
State Senator Hinojosa is a key sponsor of legislation to allow casinos in Texas. But does he lose his own money on government’s predatory gambling program?
Here is what he said in his presentation at the Texas Lyceum in Corpus Christ, TX on August 5, 2011: “I don’t gamble.”
Lang has been a relentless pusher for casinos in Illinois for years. But is he someone who will frequently lose his own money gambling, causing him to go into severe personal debt as a result of this government program like thousands of other Americans?
According this Chicago News story from June 24, 2011: “Mr. Lang is not a regular gambler but enjoys betting occasionally.”
In 2011, Madigan shepherded a bill through the Illinois House that called for five more casinos in the state and slot machines at the horse tracks. He has called government’s gambling program the most politically “viable” way of raising capital dollars.
Yet will he personally lose any of his salary to help fund these needed capital projects? Does he believe it is in the best interest of his constituents to become habitual gamblers? According to this Illinois newspaper report, Madigan said: “I don’t gamble, I don’t go to casinos, I don’t go to racetracks, I don’t play cards, I don’t bet on sports. Gambling is something to be avoided – by everybody.”
In a state already saturated with electronic gambling machines, Markell has been a major advocate for government sponsored gambling, including a proposal to legalize sports betting in Delaware. Here is what he told ESPN The Magazine about his gambling habits in a column written by Chad Millman:
“A prediction: Sometime soon—after Tim Tebow brings peace to the Middle East but before the Lions become contenders—you’ll walk into your local deli and bet on sports. You won’t get pinched. You won’t go on the lam if you can’t pay up. Seriously. It’s a lock.
For this, you may have Jack Markell to thank. Which is funny because Markell, Delaware’s governor-elect, is not a betting man. Hasn’t been to Vegas in 15 years, can’t remember ever playing one of his state’s slot machines, never gambles on football or basketball.
And yet, soon after he’s sworn in on January 20th, there’s a chance he’ll start an avalanche of unprecedented gambling reform, and become the betting man’s biggest hero since Charles McNeil invented the point spread.”
Throughout his tenure as Lieutenant Governor, Murray was a consistent supporter of legalizing casinos in Massachusetts.
Even though much of the rationale to bring in casinos is based on the recycled narrative that some citizens are already going-out-of-state, how frequently does Murray himself go out-of-state to lose his own money at the Connecticut casinos? In an interview with WUML (Lowell, MA) radio on September 17, 2007 he said: “I have not been down to Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun.”there’s no money involved. The only game I’ve played with money is Monopoly.
Pallone is the biggest advocate for sports gambling operators in Congress. But does he waste any of his taxpayer-funded salary on government-sanctioned gambling games? Will he bet and lose his own cash if sports gambling is permitted?
Pallone confessed to USA TODAY Sports on Nov. 28, 2017: “I don’t bet. People think I’m a gambler because all of this, but I’m not.”
Paul had been a vocal supporter in Congress of legalizing online casinos. Does he lose his own money in government’s gambling program? According to this excerpt from a profile in The New Republic, December 31, 2007: “I don’t gamble, but I’m the gambler’s best friend,” he says, boasting of his support for online casinos.
In his role as Maryland’s Secretary of Labor, Licensing and Regulation for Governor Martin O’Malley, Perez was the administration’s public face to legalize slot parlors across the state. He later went on to become the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice and then moved to become the U.S. Secretary of Labor. Does Perez lose his own money on government’s slot machine program? According to The Washington Post, November 12, 2007:
Prior to studying the issue for O’Malley, Perez said he had never been to a gambling parlor. “This is not how I’d choose to spend my entertainment dollars,” he said.
Not surprisingly, Perez has left off his leading role in legalizing slot machines in Maryland on his Wikipedia page.
Campaigning as an outsider in 2006, Patrick railed against gimmicks and challenged citizens “to wish for your neighbors what you wish for yourself.” Yet shortly after his inauguration, Patrick declared with much fanfare he would study the issue of casinos. In reality, it proved to be nothing more than a roll-out strategy. Patrick officially ushered in casinos four years later in November 2011.
How much personal experience did he have with the policy that represents his primary legacy as governor? Virtually none. According to a State House News excerpt from November 22, 2011: “Patrick said he used to take his mother to gamble at Foxwoods and recalled spending time at a Las Vegas casino when he worked at Coca-Cola. “It was glamorous,” Patrick said, remembering the meals and taking in a Cirque du Soleil show.”
After leaving the governor’s office, Patrick went to work at Bain Capital. He oversees “a social impact fund” which invests “in companies that provide a social benefit in addition to financial returns.” You won’t find a single, credible social impact fund anywhere in the world that invests in predatory gambling operators.
As Governor of Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell spearheaded the drive to legalize casinos in that state. In 2010, he famously called the 60 Minutes team “idiots” and “simpletons” after being pressed by Lesley Stahl to explain why government is creating new gambling addicts and pushing people into deeper personal debt in an ultimately failed attempt to fund public services.
Regarding whether he frequently loses his own money in the casinos he helped create, here is what Rendell said in a story that appeared in The Erie Times on February 7, 2008:
“On criticism from anti-gambling groups who say he doesn’t go into the state’s casinos: ‘He’s ashamed of what he’s created,’ Rendell said, quoting them. But Rendell said he would also be criticized if he were to visit the casinos.”
Robey supported legalizing slot machines in Maryland. But does he lose his own money on the government casinos he helped create?
Here’s what The Baltimore Sun reported on August 24, 2008: “I’m not a gambler, but I’m a realist,” said Robey.
Rosenberg helped to lead the state’s drive to legalize casinos. He was described by some in the media as the “State House’s casino expert.”
During a public hearing in June 2010, Rosenberg opened it by telling those in attendance that the casino issue “had been debated literally for decades’ and that “every point of view, every study, has been heard, vetted, and considered.’’
His self-admiration proved hollow. In an interview with The Atlantic in 2016, Rosenberg revealed he was “unaware of near misses, false wins, and other electronic gambling machine practices.” He admitted: “I don’t know the engineering and science of it.” It’s a jaw-dropping confession, especially in light of the fact that America’s leading expert on electronic gambling machines, Dr Natasha Schull, was at nearby MIT and had testified several times before the Massachusetts Legislature.
Aside from Rosenberg’s self-acknowledged ignorance on slots design, how much personal experience did he have with intense forms of gambling like slot machines? How likely is he to lose his own money in the government’s predatory gambling program that he championed?
Here is an excerpt from an interview in The Ideas section of The Boston Globe on January 10, 2010 titled “Inside Man: An interview with Stan Rosenberg, the State House’s casino expert”
IDEAS: Do you ever gamble?
ROSENBERG: Nope. Never put a coin in a slot machine. Well you don’t put coins in them anymore, you play by putting a card into the slot. I buy a lottery ticket every now and then when the jackpot gets really large, just for the fun of it. But no, I’m not a gambler.
IDEAS: Not even a nickel slot machine?
ROSENBERG: I don’t even play poker with friends. When we play card games there’s no money involved. The only game I’ve played with money is Monopoly.
Strickland was a pivotal leader in the effort to legalize casinos in Ohio in 2009.
In addition to his support for casinos, he also expanded the state lottery to Sundays and added Keno games as well as proposed bringing in video slot machines at the state’s seven racetracks as a way to bridge a $3.2 billion budget deficit.
Prior to being elected Governor in 2006, Strickland was a United Methodist minister – a denomination which strongly opposes predatory gambling in their Social Principles.
Thomas has been a leading proponent for a Rhode Island casino to be partly controlled by the Narragansetts tribe. Yet does he lose any of his own money on the business he so desperately wants to operate?
From a column written by The Providence Journal’s M. Charles Bakst, May 13, 2004:
“Does he patronize casinos? Rarely. ‘I’m not a big gambler.'</strong
Wagner was the chairman of the House legislative committee that spearheaded the push to legalize casinos in Massachusetts. How likely is he to lose his own money in government’s gambling program? According to this excerpt taken from a story titled “House passes casino bill” that appeared in The Boston Globe, Sept. 15, 2011:
“Personally, expanded gambling, I suppose I could take or leave,” said Representative Joseph F. Wagner, a Chicopee Democrat and the lead sponsor of the bill, who confessed his gambling experience is limited to the “occasional game of Keno”.”
Wright had been at the forefront of high-profile efforts to legalize online gambling including sports betting in California- a state that already has more than 60 tribal casinos, more than 80 poker casinos and a lottery.
Does he lose his own money like his constituents do on government’s gambling program?
During his appearance at the 2010 Global iGaming Summit & Expo, Wright said:
“I am the consummate shopper. I’m not a gambler. I need to provide a vehicle by which you (operators) can make money and I can get money (for the state).”
THE SPECIAL ILLINOIS WING OF THE HYPOCRITE HALL OF FAME
As Senate President, Cullerton has been a leading advocate for a massive expansion of casino gambling across Illinois.
When asked if he’s a gambling man himself in this interview on a Chicago news program from Sept. 19, 2011, Cullerton responded: “I’m not.”
Lang has been a relentless pusher for casinos in Illinois for years. But is he someone who will frequently lose his own money gambling, causing him to go into severe personal debt as a result of this government program like thousands of other Americans?
According this Chicago News story from June 24, 2011: “Mr. Lang is not a regular gambler but enjoys betting occasionally.”
In 2011, Madigan shepherded a bill through the Illinois House that called for five more casinos in the state and slot machines at the horse tracks. He has called government’s gambling program the most politically “viable” way of raising capital dollars.
Yet will he personally lose any of his salary to help fund these needed capital projects? Does he believe it is in the best interest of his constituents to become habitual gamblers? According to this Illinois newspaper report, Madigan said: “I don’t gamble, I don’t go to casinos, I don’t go to racetracks, I don’t play cards, I don’t bet on sports. Gambling is something to be avoided – by everybody.”
THE SPECIAL MASSACHUSETTS WING OF THE HYPOCRITE HALL OF FAME
Excerpted from The Boston Globe, April 21, 2008:
“Ted’s Stateline Mobil is the King Kong of Massachusetts Lottery agents. The store sold $12.6 million worth of lottery tickets in 2007, millions more than any of the other 7,500 or so bars, restaurants, and convenience stores that sell lottery tickets in the state. Owners Ted and Tony Amico earned a staggering $625,000 on the standard 5 percent commission lottery agents receive for all lottery ticket sales, not including a 1 percent commission on all his customers’ winnings. The average store owner made about $37,000.
As for Tony Amico, he said he does not play the lottery much. “Once in a while, when the jackpot’s really big, I buy a ticket like everybody else,” he said. “That’s it.'”
Ash was a highly-visible spokesman in support of government-sanctioned casinos in Massachusetts. He was the co-chair of the carefully-titled “Massachusetts Coalition for Jobs and Growth.” Yet does Ash regularly gamble away his own money at casinos?
In a Boston Herald op-ed that promoted the merits of building casinos in local communities published by Ash himself, he wrote: “It was the second of my two trips to Foxwoods that convinced me I was really among my element. No, not gamblers – although I do play cards in a regular home game, I’m not much of a gambler. Instead, I found my element while walking through the shops.”
As State Treasurer, Cahill was a relentless advocate for casinos and the State Lottery in Massachusetts. Does Cahill lose any of his own money on government’s predatory gambling program?
Here’s what he told Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen in this Sept. 24, 2007 story: “I don’t gamble. I never have.”
Cromwell has positioned his tribe as the front for its billion-dollar casino development partner Genting, the overseas predatory gambling giant from Malaysia. As a highly visible advocate for casinos, does Cromwell lose his own money on commercialized gambling?
According to this Boston Magazine excerpt from December 2011:
“I’m not a gambling man.” Casinos aren’t really Cromwell’s thing — actually, risk isn’t his thing. “When I walk across the street, I try to make sure that there are not too many cars,” he says. “I’m a business person and a leader of a tribal nation.”
Crosby accepted the position to lead the state’s predatory gambling program even though he told The Wall Street Journal on July 30, 2010 he “thought it was a regressive and thoughtless and unproductive way to raise money.” He later changed his position because “eventually I decided that as the need for money got greater and greater, it’s a little silly to be making a point of principle when you’ve got gambling casinos all around you.”
OK, so he thinks it is regressive, thoughtless and an unproductive policy. But at least he’s a gambler, right? The answer is no, according to a State House News story from December 13, 2011: “Aside from a few scratch tickets and a visit with his family to a casino in Cripple Creek, Colo., Crosby said he is not a gambler…”
After assuming the role of Speaker of the Massachusetts House, DeLeo’s number one priority was to legalize casinos and slot parlors in the state. How many times had he been to a casino in his life? In a WCVB-TV interview on September 25, 2011, the 61-year-old conceded that “I’ve only been in a casino twice in my life and one of those times was for a boxing match.”
While many of his constituents will be losing money at casinos more than 200 times a year like what is happening in Philadelphia, how likely is he to lose his own money at one of the casinos he pushed so hard to legalize?
According to this Boston Globe story from April 11, 2010:
“But DeLeo learned other lessons from his father, too, ones he has not spoken about as publicly. Even though Al DeLeo loved the track, he recognized its dangers, to the point that he forbade his son from gambling. Robert DeLeo remembers one occasion when he bet on a horse, won, and bragged to his father.
“I was as proud as a peacock,” he said in a recent interview. “I said, `Hey, Dad, I won a race.’ And he looked at me and said, `You’re going to lose too many. I don’t want to hear it. Don’t even go there, pal.’ ”
As a member of Congress, Frank was a leading proponent of legalizing internet gambling yet he said he does not lose his own money gambling. Below is an excerpt from a front page story on internet gambling that appeared in The Boston Globe, July 13, 2008:
“Barney Frank does not play poker or blackjack. The games bore him, and he thinks he would be terrible at them even if he tried. He’s never played a slot machine, doesn’t go to casinos, and has never tried to gamble online.
“I wouldn’t place a bet with your money,” he said. And yet, over the past year, the Democratic congressman from Newton has quietly become a cult hero for poker players and the online gambling industry – the pit boss of poker politics – by championing their cause on Capitol Hill.”
Throughout his tenure as Lieutenant Governor, Murray was a consistent supporter of legalizing casinos in Massachusetts.
Even though much of the rationale to bring in casinos is based on the recycled narrative that some citizens are already going-out-of-state, how frequently does Murray himself go out-of-state to lose his own money at the Connecticut casinos? In an interview with WUML (Lowell, MA) radio on September 17, 2007 he said: “I have not been down to Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun.”there’s no money involved. The only game I’ve played with money is Monopoly.
Campaigning as an outsider in 2006, Patrick railed against gimmicks and challenged citizens “to wish for your neighbors what you wish for yourself.” Yet shortly after his inauguration, Patrick declared with much fanfare he would study the issue of casinos. In reality, it proved to be nothing more than a roll-out strategy. Patrick officially ushered in casinos four years later in November 2011.
How much personal experience did he have with the policy that represents his primary legacy as governor? Virtually none. According to a State House News excerpt from November 22, 2011: “Patrick said he used to take his mother to gamble at Foxwoods and recalled spending time at a Las Vegas casino when he worked at Coca-Cola. “It was glamorous,” Patrick said, remembering the meals and taking in a Cirque du Soleil show.”
After leaving the governor’s office, Patrick went to work at Bain Capital. He oversees “a social impact fund” which invests “in companies that provide a social benefit in addition to financial returns.” You won’t find a single, credible social impact fund anywhere in the world that invests in predatory gambling operators.
Rosenberg helped to lead the state’s drive to legalize casinos. He was described by some in the media as the “State House’s casino expert.”
During a public hearing in June 2010, Rosenberg opened it by telling those in attendance that the casino issue “had been debated literally for decades’’ and that “every point of view, every study, has been heard, vetted, and considered.’’
His self-admiration proved hollow. In an interview with The Atlantic in 2016, Rosenberg revealed he was “unaware of near misses, false wins, and other electronic gambling machine practices.” He admitted: “I don’t know the engineering and science of it.” It’s a jaw-dropping confession, especially in light of the fact that America’s leading expert on electronic gambling machines, Dr Natasha Schull, was at nearby MIT and had testified several times before the Massachusetts Legislature.
Aside from Rosenberg’s self-acknowledged ignorance on slots design, how much personal experience did he have with intense forms of gambling like slot machines? How likely is he to lose his own money in the government’s predatory gambling program that he championed?
Here is an excerpt from an interview in The Ideas section of The Boston Globe on January 10, 2010 titled “Inside Man: An interview with Stan Rosenberg, the State House’s casino expert”
IDEAS: Do you ever gamble?
ROSENBERG: Nope. Never put a coin in a slot machine. Well you don’t put coins in them anymore, you play by putting a card into the slot. I buy a lottery ticket every now and then when the jackpot gets really large, just for the fun of it. But no, I’m not a gambler.
IDEAS: Not even a nickel slot machine?
ROSENBERG: I don’t even play poker with friends. When we play card games there’s no money involved. The only game I’ve played with money is Monopoly.
Wagner was the chairman of the House legislative committee that spearheaded the push to legalize casinos in Massachusetts. How likely is he to lose his own money in government’s gambling program? According to this excerpt taken from a story titled “House passes casino bill” that appeared in The Boston Globe, Sept. 15, 2011:
“Personally, expanded gambling, I suppose I could take or leave,’’ said Representative Joseph F. Wagner, a Chicopee Democrat and the lead sponsor of the bill, who confessed his gambling experience is limited to the “occasional game of Keno.’’
As the head of Genting, Lim 
As Senate President, Cullerton was a leading advocate for a massive expansion of casino gambling across Illinois.