Representative Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Speaker of the US House, recently traveled to Las Vegas to rake in more dirty gambling money. The take was $250,000, a substantial sum until one considers all the access and favors it will buy for the multi-billion dollar gambling industry. The $250,000 take is actually smaller than some recent jackpots that Hastert has "hit" when visiting Vegas. Three years ago the take was $600,000, so the good ‘ol boy from Illinois will have to work a little harder for his patrons if he expects his "luck" to improve in the future.

Back home in Illinois, some of his Republican supporters might be a little surprised by Hastert’s player lifestyle in Vegas. Many of them are staunch opponents of expanding gambling and harsh critics of what they see as gambling’s undermining of "family values." Considering big-time gambling’s repeated association with organized crime, it might pay to ask which "family" Hastert feels closer to following his "lucky" trip to Las Vegas?

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