Foreword by Theodore J. LowiA national map of legalized gambling from   1963 would show one state, Nevada, with casino gambling, and no states with   lotteries.  Today's map shows eleven commercial casino states, most of them   along the Mississippi River, forty-two states with state-owned lotteries,   and racetrack betting, slot-machine parlors, charitable bingo, and Native   American gambling halls flourishing throughout the nation.  For the past   twenty years, the South has wrestled with gambling issues.  In How the   South Joined the Gambling Nation, Michael Nelson and John Lyman Mason   examine how modern southern state governments have decided whether to adopt   or prohibit casinos and lotteries. Nelson and Mason point out that although   the South was a full participant in past gambling eras, it has been the   last region to join the modern movement embracing legalized gambling.   Despite the prevalence of wistful, romantic images of gambling on southern   riverboats, the politically and religiously conservative ideology of the   modern South has made it difficult for states to toss their chips into the   pot.  The authors  tell the story of the arrival or rejection of   legalized gambling in seven southern states--Mississippi, Louisiana,   Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Arkansas, and Alabama. The authors   suggest that some states chose to legalize gambling based on the examples   of other nearby states, as when Mississippi casinos spurred casino   legalization in Louisiana and the Georgia lottery inspired lottery   campaigns in neighboring South Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee. Also   important was the influence of Democratic policy entrepreneurs, such as   Zell Miller in Georgia, Don Siegelman in Alabama, and Edwin Edwards in   Louisiana, who wanted to sell the idea of gambling in order to sell   themselves to voters. At the same time, each state had its own   idiosyncrasies, such as certain provisions of their state constitutions,   that weighed heavily as a factor. Nelson and Mason show that the story   of gambling's spread in the South exemplifies the process of state policy   innovation. In exploring how southern states have weighed the moral and   economic risk of legalizing gambling, especially the political   controversies that surround these discussions, Nelson and Mason employ a   suspenseful, fast-paced narrative that echoes the oftentimes hurried   decisions made by state legislators. Although each of these seven states   has fought its own unique battle over gambling, taken together, these case   studies help tell the larger story of how the South--sometimes reluctantly,   sometimes enthusiastically--decided to join the gambling nation. 256   pages,  6 x 9

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