Gaming Association’s Voter Guide Presents Candidate’s Views

Before Nevada casino employees go to caucus starting on Saturday, they may want to take a close look at the guide recently sent by the American Gaming Association (AGA).

Earlier this month, AGA printed nearly 200,000 copies of the voter guide for Nevada’s casino industry to research before voting in either the Democratic caucus (taking place on Saturday, February 20) or the Republican caucus (taking place on Tuesday, February 23).

The guide  (opens in a new tab)[PDF] doesn’t specifically support any of the candidates but instead simply shares some of the candidates’ on-the-record comments about the gaming industry. (Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders has not made any public statements about the gaming industry, though he has publicly criticized  (opens in a new tab) wealthy GOP donor and well-known casino owner Sheldon Adelson.) The guide also tells employees how they can sign up to vote in a caucus.

Some candidates, such as Republicans Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio—both of whom hail from Florida, a state with a $1.2 billion gaming industry—are on the record as being strongly in opposition to casinos. Others, such as Republican Ben Carson and Democrat Hillary Clinton, have traditionally been supportive of the gaming industry.

And then there’s Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, who has directly helped to build casinos in the past, though his record in struggling Atlantic City, New Jersey  (opens in a new tab)—a town he has criticized on the campaign trail—leaves behind a cloudier picture for voters.

Ultimately, the goal of the voting guide is to provide casino workers with information on how the presidential candidates see the gaming industry.

“The hundreds of thousands of gaming employees in Nevada are highly engaged in this election and will play an outsized role in choosing the next president,” AGA President and CEO Geoff Freeman said in a news release  (opens in a new tab). “For the first time, our employees will know where candidates stand on Nevada’s largest industry—one that provides their livelihood—when they caucus in this crucial early state.”

AGA’s push to highlight the gaming industry’s role in the election isn’t new. Last year, the association sent letters to every presidential candidate  (opens in a new tab) at the time, recommending that they embrace gaming, an industry that AGA says 90 percent of American voters support.

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