Hedging the bet

National | Las Vegas lobbies hard to weaken federal probe of gaming | Joe Maxwell

Casinos make no guarantees. That's why it's called gambling. But the professional gamblers of Las Vegas have no interest in gambling in Washington: They want a sure thing. So when House Speaker Newt Gingrich appeared April 29 at a $70,000 fundraising breakfast for a first-term Nevada Republican and announced his support for weakening a Washington probe of the gaming industry, the Las Vegas high rollers must've thought they'd hit the jackpot.

The night before, Mr. Gingrich dined with big-time Republican donor Steve Wynn, chairman of the board of Mirage Resorts, a gambling concern in Las Vegas. The next morning, as the Speaker stumped for Rep. John Ensign (R-Nev.), he discussed pending legislation that would create a federal gambling commission and said he would oppose a provision in the bill that would give the panel the power to subpoena industry documents. Mr. Gingrich, according to a Washington Post account, said the panel should have to get the full approval of Congress to issue a subpoena-an unwieldy and unlikely procedure.