Gambling interests are hoping to strike it rich in the next General Assembly session.
DraftKings and FanDuel want to make sure competitors don't cut into their business. Pace-O-Matic wants the General Assembly to allow their skill games in convenience stores. And some casinos are worried about competition from online gambling.
According to campaign finance documents posted to the Virginia Public Access Project, the gambling industry donated more than $13 million to candidates and PACs in the election cycle that just wrapped up.
"This kind of blurs the line between expressing a political opinion, which is protected by the Constitution and bribing public officials," says Alex Keena at Virginia Commonwealth University. "The fact that you can spend that much money; it raises all sorts of concerns about the integrity of our democracy and corruption in the policymaking process."
The campaign cash may have dried up for now, but the lobbying has just started.
"Looking at the policymaking literature and the history of how these things go; money spent on lobbying is usually more productive for these entities than money spent on campaigns," says Jennifer Victor at George Mason University.
The upcoming General Assembly session is likely to be a casino royale for groups that invested during the campaign. The Sports Betting Alliance has lobbyists from three different firms, and Pace-o-matic has hired five lobbying firms, including one that features a former leader of House Democrats.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
