At least $186,631 -- Includes campaign contributions from the 1992-96 elections

• Search Montana gambling contributions from 1992-96.

June 9, 1997

There's wagering aplenty in the Big Sky Country, where folks can risk their paychecks at bingo, lottery, card rooms, pari-mutuel, Indian and non-Indian casinos with up to 20 slots, and even video gaming machines in any corner bar. Local anti-gambling activist Ellen Engstedt, director of the grassroots organization Don't Gamble with the Future, claims that in some years, 20 to 30 percent of all state campaign contributions come from gambling interests.

Montana doesn't have its campaign finance and lobbying records available online or on disk yet, but luckily the Western States Center, a public interest group based in Helena, has done the job for them. We asked WSC to run all the gambling names and keywords we could think of through its database of campaign finance records and found gambling interests gave at least $186,631 to Montana candidates and PACs in the last three election cycles, from 1992 through 1996. For readers who want more detail, the MoJo Wire has built a searchable database of these contributions, all the way back to 1992.

Web Exclusives:

Heavy Betting
An exclusive investigation of the gambling industry's state-by-state political contributions.

Across State Lines
Track gambling interests political contributions across 11 states.

Ea$y Money: The Documentary
See exclusive video clips from the FRONTLINE and Mother Jones Television co-production.

Fun Facts
Test your knowledge about gambling.

From the Magazine:

Ea$y Money
With exploding profits, the gambling industry is investing in politics.

All Bets Are Off
Citizens groups have won some key battles in the gambling wars.

World Wide Wagering
On the Internet, it's already possible to lose your shirt from your desktop, and more gambling sites are in the works.

Hot!Media
See Hot!media for more resources.