'At the end of the day it's the casino money going to the DGA,' Ryan says. Regarding the campaign donations, a spokesperson for Caesar's says the company doesn't make contributions to political races in Louisiana and shared a letter it sends to the governors associations' instructing them to restrict casino donations in states like Louisiana.īut for watchdogs such as Ryan at Common Cause, this casino money - despite these precautions - still ends up helping the DGA's political efforts in Louisiana. 'When casinos are giving money to one of those groups right before an election that the casino has a vested interest in - like the governor's race - and then the DGA or RGA spends the money in that race,' says Paul Seamus Ryan, an executive at the campaign finance watchdog Common Cause. And like its Democratic counterpart, the RGA also spent millions on the race, which became the most expensive gubernatorial contest in Louisiana history.Ĭritics say these casino donations to outside groups spending heavily in Louisiana appear to cirvcumvent a state law aimed at keeping gambling money out of politics. The 2019 tax records for the Republican Governors Association also show more than $200,000 in donations from Nevada casino companies around the time of the Louisiana election. During that same time period, the DGA pumped millions of dollars into the Louisiana race through a pro-Edwards group called Gumbo Pac, which plastered the airwaves with ads bashing GOP opponent Eddie Rispone.

Louisiana state laws on casinos