Despite perceptions to the contrary, Coast casinos are generally not major players when it comes to financing local campaigns. In most municipal campaigns since legalized gambling began in 1992, casinos and casino interests have contributed only a small portion of contributions reported by candidates. Mississippi casinos or their parent corporations have focused their political spending more on the federal and state levels. Donations from lawyers, developers and non-casino businesses usually outpace casino contributions.
Contributions have nothing to do with influence.
Short's opponent in the Republican primary runoff, former Mayor Ken Combs, has reported no casino donations. On the spectrum of casino money in local elections, the Coast lies somewhere between Atlantic City, where casinos and their officers are prohibited by law from contributing to local campaigns, and Las Vegas and Reno in Nevada, where casinos have been accused of buying local elections and some people are calling for reform. Joe Parker, a political science professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, said Coast casinos are probably stingy toward local politicians because city governments don't have much to offer the industry. They've already gotten the zoning for their hotels and barges and everything they need from the cities. It's more the state and the feds who regulate them or decide issues that affect them.