Gaming association wants presidential candidates to fill out questionnaire

Geoff Freeman, president of the American Gaming Association, gives a “State of the Industry” address during the Global Gaming Expo on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015, at Sands Expo Center.

Which presidential candidates would be willing to meet with casino employees? Which would take a stand against illegal gambling? And what would their approach be to the daily fantasy sports industry?

The American Gaming Association is trying to find answers to these and other inquiries by getting presidential candidates to fill out a questionnaire. The Washington, D.C.-based casino industry trade group said today that responses to the questionnaire will influence a voter guide it plans to distribute to some 1 million casino employees in 40 states.

As part of the association’s Gaming Votes initiative, the questionnaire marks another attempt to ensure casino-related issues are accounted for during the 2016 campaign.

Two weeks before the GOP debate in Boulder, Colo., for example, the association held a casino-focused event that included Republican Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado.

And after former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told Nevada political journalist Jon Ralston, “I don’t like gambling,” the association publicly called on the candidate to move past his opposition. The association’s president, Geoff Freeman, also sent a letter to presidential candidates this summer encouraging them to support gaming.

The release of the questionnaire today comes about two weeks before Republican candidates are set to debate at the Venetian.

Democratic candidates already held a debate at Wynn Las Vegas.

“Before casting their vote, gaming employees need to know where candidates stand on their industry and the most important issues we face,” Freeman said in a statement. “While candidates have no shortage of issues to consider and debate, we encourage candidates to take the time to demonstrate their support — through this questionnaire, a back-of-the-house tour and in other ways — for an industry that is creating a path to the middle class for workers of all backgrounds and experiences.”

The questionnaire covers a range of issues affecting the casino industry.

The first question notes that casinos are highly regulated and asks, “How do you balance the often conflicting needs for regulation and innovation?”

Other questions ask if the candidates would be willing to meet with the workers at a casino and about the steps they would take to fight illegal gambling, for example.

An immigration-related question asks candidates about the actions they would take “to support the many immigrants who work in our industry,” noting that “the gaming industry, as part of a broad coalition of business groups, supported the bipartisan immigration legislation that passed the U.S. Senate in 2013.”

The questionnaire also addresses one of the industry’s most controversial topics: daily fantasy sports, which has faced increased legal and regulatory pressure lately amid criticism that it amounts to gambling.

The questionnaire calls daily fantasy sports an “exciting new product” but says “state-by-state legal clarity and consumer protections” are necessary to keep the industry successful.

Then it asks candidates how they would encourage “the growth of innovative new companies” such as those that offer daily fantasy sports.

Gaming

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