The Indian Tribes Rolled the Dice on Speaker Charles McCall
Fueled by donations from a wide variety of Indian tribes Speaker Charles McCall swept into office and quickly found himself running for Speaker of the House. Initially he was repulsed at a December 2015 Caucus meeting where legislators refused to sign a pledge supporting McCall for Speaker but he came back with boat loads of cash in early 2016 and bribed, AKA campaign donations, enough legislators that he had enough votes to defeat Earl Sears in May of 2016 and clinch the Speaker race.
How he did so was through a PAC that he controlled and the collaboration of Indian Tribe PACs that bribed enough freshmen and incumbents to secure the position for McCall. And anytime anyone spends that kind of money there is always, always, always, a payback.
One of the parts of that payback was filed last week but for some odd reason it wasn't brought up for a Floor vote. HB 1033 would have legalized dice games and roulette games in Indian casinos as long as the Tribe didn't have a direct financial interest in the outcome of the game. It would be done like poker, the gambler's money is put in a pot or pool and winnings and casino fees are paid out of that pot.
This of course will be worth billions and billions to the Tribes. Oklahoma government would have earned $8.3 million in 2018 and $35.6 million in 2019 and in years to come afterward. The measure would have allowed existing gaming compacts to be supplemented. Education would have received 88% of any income and the General Fund would have gotten 12% of any income.
Gambling is legal and when done in moderation there is nothing wrong with it. A lot of people do get addicted and it wrecks havoc, an editorial posted by Sooner Politics explains that side well. Gambling addicts are like all addicts, they would prefer to deflect blame by calling their addiction a sickness but in reality it is bad character and morals that leads them to steal and harm their families with compulsive gambling. It is perfectly within a person's control to stop gambling but the editorial is right in that it creates a backwash of misery and even crime so is it a good idea for the government to prop up gambling in return for a cut of the profits?
Ultimately we can leave those debates for others to hash out and we will focus on the worst aspect of HB 1033, enabling corruption at the legislature. Allowing the Tribes to bribe Speaker McCall and in turn bribe other legislators in return for filing such a blatant quid pro quo just encourage other corruption at the Capitol.
And that is all you really need to know about gambling revenue supporting government. And were the Tribes gambling on McCall or was it a sure thing?
