At least $2,404,608 -- Includes 1992-96 lobbying expenditures and campaign contributions

• Search $53,851 of Wisconsin gambling contributions from 1992-96

June 9, 1997

Wisconsin residents enjoy a fairly typical array of gambling options: they can wager on the state lottery, charitable bingo, 17 tribal casinos, or pari-mutuel dog tracks, as well as simulcasts of both dog and horse racing. The Badger State is also home to a pending federal case that could help shape the future of gaming. The lawsuit, filed by World Wide Casinos Inc. against Gov. Tommy Thompson and Attorney General Jim Doyle for refusing to let the company set up an online gaming business in Oak Creek, WI, could help determine the legality of Internet gambling -- and draw industry attention to the state.

The local Indian tribes have also drawn federal-level attention: In July 1995, the Interior Department turned down a proposal from three smaller tribes to build a huge off-reservation casino. Its backers claim they were defeated by a massive lobbying effort by their potential competitors, the St. Croix Chippewa Indians, the Ho-Chunk Nation, and the Oneida Tribe, whose contributions at the federal level led Oneida Chairwoman Deborah Doxtator to a Clinton White House coffee.

Like most states, Wisconsin's Elections Board only maintains campaign contribution records on paper, and charges 15 cents a page for this public information. The helpful folks at the WEB, perhaps aware of how far behind the times they're getting, offered a referral to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and Wisconsin Citizens Action, two computer-literate public interest groups, who are building a database of these records. A search of the WDC database found over $50,000 that gambling interests gave to state lawmakers from 1992 through 1996. The bad news: This doesn't include money given to the governor, to challengers in the 1992-94 races, or to PACs, which finance many of the big ballot measures. You can check out these individual contributions for yourself -- and just imagine what the full totals would look like -- in the MoJo Wire's searchable database.

The money politicians took directly is dwarfed by the huge sums paid to gambling lobbyists in Madison; Mother Jones obtained 1992-1996 lobbying expenditure reports from the state Ethics Board and found more than $2.3 million spent on lobbying by high rollers like GTECH Corp., Scientific Games Inc., and gaming tribes including the Oneida, the St. Croix Chippewa, the Ho-Chunk Nation, and the Menominee Indian Tribe.

Source: Wisconsin Ethics Board

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