Follow the money: Gambling, ethics, and subpoenas

On 3 August 1996, the National Gambling Impact Study Commission Act became law and established the nine-member National Gambling Impact Study Commission. Passed by unanimous voice vote in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, the gambling commission was the congressional response to a gambling industry whose influence threatened to overwhelm not only state and local governmental decision making but also the objectivity of the court system via test cases to expand gambling. This article examines the potential influence of the gambling industry and its lobbyists. There exist significant congressional fears that the gambling industry could be sufficiently powerful to change U.S. policy and the economy (locally, regionally, and nationally).