McCain Rolls the Dice

ABC’s Rick Klein reports: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is railing against the spread of casino gambling in his campaign for president, saying in a conference call with reporters this week that it’s "an issue that Congress needs to revisit" to prevent scandals and corruption.

"It’s a tough issue, but I believe that if we don’t have stronger oversight and regulation, we could see some bad things happen," McCain said Wednesday, according to the Boston Herald.

The stance could win McCain points with the religious right, and it fits with his longtime efforts to ban gambling on college and Olympic sports, as well as his work to outlaw Internet gambling.

But campaign-finance records show that gambling interests have been friendly to McCain over the years. McCain was the top Senate recipient of contributions from casinos and gambling interests in the 2000 campaign cycle, raking in more than $125,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. He was No. 4 among senators in the 1998 cycle, and No. 9 in the 2004 election.

McCain has also benefited from the support of Indian-gaming interests. The Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, which owns the Foxwoods Casino and Resort in Connecticut, ranks 18th among the top McCain contributors over the past two decades, according to the center’s data. When he became the chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee in 2005, however, he declined to take further donations from Indian tribes.

Foxwoods would love to stop other casinos from opening up in New England; McCain’s comments were made in response to questions about a push by the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe to build a casino in Massachusetts.