Kings of Gambling Mean To Own North Carolina

 

 

The gambling industry has a two-prong strategy for taking North Carolina: First, the push stage-managed by the Phil Berger clan to put a physical gambling casino in Rockingham County (and ultimately in three other rural counties). The money trail in that mis-fire went back to The Cordish Company, a developer of "gaming destinations."

The second hustle is all about online gambling. The leading player looking for favors is the corporate entity known as DraftKings, a huge online gambling industry leader with a very eerie website that put me in mind of actually being inside a windowless but gleaming casino, slowly losing my wits. DraftKings' parent is DK Crown Holdings Inc., "a leading digital sports entertainment provider." They recently turned up in an investigative piece into a key race for the NC Senate, sticking their thumb on the scale to oust incumbent Republican Sen. Chris Measmer in NCS 34 and put in Republican Kevin Crutchfield (who was recently a one-term member of the NC House). Crutchfield won the primary even after news came out that DK Crown Holdings Inc. was behind big donations to super-PACS that opened a ridiculous frontal assault on the character of Chris Measmer (ridiculous because they attacked him as a RINO when he's in actuality pretty MAGAfied). (Measmer was already trailing heavy personal baggage, which I described back in February.)

Crutchfield

 

The anti-Measmer attack ads were funded by an entity called the American Conservative Fund. According to the excellent investigative reporting of Nora O'Neill, "the Federal Election Commission filings show American Conservative Fund is funded entirely by another political group called Win for America, which is entirely funded by DK Crown Holdings, Inc."

They wanted Chris Measmer to lose his seat bad, which means they wanted Kevin Crutchfield bad and are counting on him for ... what? That question alone ought to set Kevin Crutchfield up for knocking down in November by Democrat April Cook. I wrote about her back in February and was taken with her prospects. She's now been endorsed by Carolina Forward. She can beat Crutchfield, who's now dragging his own weary baggage.

Anyway, why such financial interest in little ole North Carolina by various fronts in the gambling biz? (And I do wonder what other General Assembly races featured big gambling money.) In the case of DraftKings, its very popular and I suspect amazingly lucrative SportsBook only very recently became legal (March of '24) after the passage of H 347, which legalized sports betting specifically but not "casino" action -- slots, roulette, and other live-dealer games, which according to DraftKings' website they're very into. Online casino betting -- still banned in North Carolina, but the General Assembly already opened that door a crack and invited DraftKings in.