Gambling on the future
The casino deal stinks, but seems poised to come up again
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Last summer, North Carolina’s budget got held up by Republicans in the legislature. For months, nobody was sure what had happened, given their veto-proof majorities. Then, we learned that a scheme to put casinos in four counties across the state had divided the GOP caucus. Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore supported the project but other rank-and-file Republicans balked. Eventually, the budget passed without casino funding.
This week, though, Carolina Public Press reveals that counties slated to get the casinos also got funding for expanded water and sewer projects. Anson, Nash, Rockingham, and Union Counties all were awarded grants by the legislature. The legislators who represent those counties were also recipients of campaign donations from the company that would be running the casinos. County managers and officials mostly deny any link, but the allocations sure look suspicious.
Anson County was the only place that officials acknowledged that the water and sewer grants could help support the proposed casinos. Rockingham County Manager Lance Metzler told the Carolina Free Press, “We’ve had to increase our infrastructure, water and sewer to accommodate growth.” The problem with that statement is that Rockingham County is not growing; it’s shrinking, losing more than 3,000 residents between 2010 and 2020.
The whole casino deal just smells. It clearly had problems passing, but the leadership seems poised to bring it up again. I’m not opposed to casinos, but I am opposed to corruption and this deal sure looks corrupt. The water and sewer grants makes it seem like the casinos will get a second bite apple.
Also this week, the News & Observer requested all emails to legislators on the day that the budget passed. Apparently, legislators, especially the Republicans who represented the areas slated for casinos, were inundated with opposition to the plan. Opposition came from both the left and the right.
The conservative N.C. Values Coalition led the push against the casinos, urging GOP legislators to pass “a pro-values budget WITHOUT predatory gambling.” According to the N&O report, legislators received almost 500 templated emails declaring, “Gambling is not a conservative value.” The budget passed without the casinos.
In a year when national politics is going to dominate the political debate, North Carolina Democrats should be looking at the casinos. Just from the surface, the deal looks bad—high paid lobbyists, shady, out-of-state entities, big dollar donations to well placed legislators, land bought or reserved before legislation was even introduced, and tax dollars allocated to those areas in anticipation of projects that haven’t passed. The Republicans in the legislature were already divided over the issue.
It’s got all the unsavory elements to make an interesting story. With some savvy messaging, casinos could become the next 1-77 toll road, driving a wedge between GOP voters and GOP politicians. At the very least, Democrats need to put Mark Robinson on the record either vowing to veto casinos or pledging to support them. It’s a local issue that could cut through the national chatter, even if its appeal is very narrow—like the margins in North Carolina’s statewide elections.
The fact that it is being reintroduced after the candidate filing deadline should not be seen as a coincidence.
Bill, Joanne, and I were on our way out to Hatteras during the time the casino deal was under discussion. It was informative to hear their thoughts and take on the matter. They were not opposed to casino idea nor was I although as you had written about this, I recall your thought about if in Anson, a place to consider was along the Great Pee Dee. I, too, could concur with that rather than the other end of the county where Union County would likely profit. The Union County profiting from an Anson entity--an established pattern (i.e., South Piedmont Community College's best assets went by way of Union as I recall well when SPCC Print Shop was moved to the Monroe campus). That print shop-- state of the art--left another loss in Anson. All to say, it's curious the topic comes up again. I recall Bill and Joanne mentioning the strong conservative backlash that roused up in Anson about the gambling sin. Certainly it makes sense to get names on record about this and follow money and see who is up to what.