Court to Review Ban on TV, Radio Ads for Casinos

The Supreme Court agreed Friday to judge the validity of a federal law the Clinton administration says is needed to protect compulsive gamblers from the lure of casinos -and games of chance.

The justices said they will decide whether free-speech rights are violated by the government’s ban on television and radio ads that promote casinos not owned by Indian tribes.

The ban is only in effect in some parts of the nation because some federal appeals courts have ruled it unconstitutional while others have upheld it.

For example, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the ban last year, blocking its enforcement in nine Western states: California, Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

The Supreme Court refused in February to review that 9th Circuit ruling.

The long-standing federal law bans broadcast advertising for “any lottery, gift enterprise or similar scheme offering prizes dependent in whole or in part upon lot or chance.” But Congress in the past 20 years has amended the anti-broadcast law to allow airing ads for casinos on Indian reservations, state-run lotteries or any gambling sponsored by nonprofit promoters working for charitable purposes.

Today, 37 states and the District of Columbia sponsor--and aggressively advertise--lotteries. More than two-thirds of the states are home to tribe-owned casinos.

Non-Indian casinos are legal in 22 states, and the appeal acted on Friday focuses on how the federal ban affects advertising for those establishments. The New Orleans-based U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ban.

Justice Department lawyers pointed to studies detailing economic and social problems, such as compulsive gambling and organized crime, associated with casino gambling and other gaming activities.

In a New Jersey case the Supreme Court refused to review last week, government lawyers said “broadcast advertising of casino gambling would directly contribute to compulsive gambling.”

In seeking to have the 5th Circuit ruling overturned, the Greater New Orleans Broadcasting Assn. and individual radio and television stations contend that the government’s stated concern for compulsive gamblers is hard to swallow.

“Broadcasters are encouraged to air advertisements that feature gaming conducted on Indian reservations and are permitted to broadcast advertisements that feature pari-mutuel betting and other sports betting,” they noted.

Recent Supreme Court rulings appeared to cut against such an advertising ban. The court ruled in a Rhode Island case last year that states may not ban all advertising that refers to liquor prices in efforts to promote sobriety.

The case is Greater New Orleans Broadcasting Assn. vs. United States, 98-387.