Gambling Revenue May Build NFL Stadium for Minnesota Vikings
A Minnesota lawmaker wants to pass a constitutional amendment allowing slot machine gambling at horse tracks so as to fund a new stadium for the NFL's Vikings. The NFL has fiercely campaigned against all forms of gambling except the lotteries which pay them, but the league and the team expect public money to build a new stadium.
State Republican Representative Tom Hackbath says voters should have the option to permit the gambling expansion, especially since polls show the public set against new taxes, but also heavily opposed to letting the Vikings leave.
The Metrodome was wholly funded for $68 million by the state of Minnesota 27 years ago, but doesn't contain the luxury boxes and other amenities the NFL sees as its birthright. Rumors that the team may leave for a different sucker city if a free venue isn't provided have begun circulating.
"We've got to get this thing done, and there's no leadership on this in the state of Minnesota,'' Hackbath said at a news conference. So, Republicans and the NFL, the staunchest foes gambling has faced over the last twenty years, are willing to accept gambling whose profits go to them.
Meanwhile, the proposed measure is being opposed by, ironically, the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association, whose tribal casinos would face regulated competition if the new slots were allowed.
All sides in the Minnesota debate reveal themselves to be not men of principle, but men of opportunity. Some observers commented on the sad state that exists when the US public is constantly denied its rights to make its own choices by such political maneuvering and slick protection of vested interests.
