Official seeks to ban slots on overseas military bases

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn., on Wednesday said he planned to introduce legislation to outlaw slot machines on U.S. military bases overseas.

Federal law already prohibits gambling devices on military bases in the United States, and Davis wants to expand the ban.

Davis said the ban would protect soldiers from becoming addicted to gambling.

Slot machines on U.S. military bases yield about $150 million per year, and about $100 million of that amount goes into the Pentagon's budget, Davis said.

"If we can't find $100 million out of a $500 billion budget (for the Department of Defense) to take care of the morale and recreational needs of our soldiers so that we don't have to take it from them, there's something deeply wrong with our country," Davis said in a conference call with Tennessee reporters.

Although he declined to comment on the bill, an Army official signaled there would be strong opposition from the Defense Department.

"This is a form of recreation that is permitted in 48 of the 50 states, and our program is in a highly controlled environment and we think we ought not to deny soldiers that opportunity," said Rich Gorman, chief operating officer of the Army's Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command.

Gorman disputed Davis' claim that the Pentagon could tap other areas in its budget to make up for the lost revenue from a ban on slot machines.

"Getting that money from our own resources would be impossible. We'd have to get an increased appropriation (from Congress)," Gorman said.

Davis, a conservative Democrat and Southern Baptist, said he decided to introduce the bill after reading about soldiers who became addicted to gambling because they had nothing else to do on military bases for recreation.

He has said he wants to name his bill after Aaron Walsh, a decorated helicopter pilot who killed himself after developing a gambling addiction on an American base in Germany and became more addicted after being deployed to South Korea.

"Anything bad that happens to a soldier, we deeply regret," Gorman said.

Davis is likely to meet opposition from the Nevada congressional delegation as well as the Pentagon.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, a Democrat who represents Las Vegas, said the ban would be inappropriate.

If the bill passed the House, it would have to be placed on the Senate schedule by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., a staunch ally of the gambling industry.

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau reporter Tony Batt tbatt@stephensmedia.com or (202) 783-1760.