Simpson remembered for battling the expansion of gambling

Horse Sense: Simpson remembered for battling the expansion of gambling
By CHARLES S. JOHNSON Gazette State Bureau The Billings Gazette

HELENA -- People remembered Ellen Engstedt Simpson at a memorial service Friday for her many good qualities and deeds.

Simpson, 65, died March 23 after a long battle with cancer after surviving an earlier bout.


"With Ms. Ellen, you never had to wonder where she was coming from," said Todd Everts, the Legislature's chief lawyer and a longtime friend. For her, "honesty is the best form of sugarcoating," he said.

Many also will remember Simpson for her efforts at the Legislature fighting against the expansion of legalized gambling and insisting on the proper accounting of electronic video gambling receipts so gambling taxes could be calculated accurately.

As her obituary said, "she was known statewide as the 'Anti-Gambling Lady.'"

"Ellen almost single-handedly forced the gambling industry to accept some accountability," said an ally, David Ewer, a former legislator and budget director.

Simpson helped found "Don't Gamble with the Future" and lobbied for the group. That meant frequent battles with powerful lobbying groups that represent taverns and casinos.

The history of gambling in Montana has been one of creeping expansionism.

The Legislature passed laws in the 1970s to legalize live bingo and card games. Some attorney general and Supreme Court opinions in the 1980s expanded these laws to legalize video poker and keno machines. The 2011 Legislature added a new video game known as "line games," or slot machines by another name.

Two decades ago, the big push was to legalize blackjack. By then, Simpson had had enough. She ran tiny ads in newspapers around the state to form a group to fight expanded gambling.

"I don't think she hated gambling, per se," said Sue Rolfing of Columbia Falls, a leader of the group who became a close friend. "She hated what it was doing to Montana and our future. I think her main thing was to nip it in the bud."

They were adamant about fighting the legalization so-called "house banking games" like blackjack.


Without her rallying the troops, I think we would have 21 and that cat out of the bag," Rolfing said.

Rolfing and other women from the Flathead often would drive down in the winter to testify at a legislative hearing the next day. They would stay in Simpson's basement.

"Our reward is that we got to be with Ellen," she said. "She wasn't the church lady. She was a ton of fun."

As soon as the group helped defeat one attempt at expanding gambling, another would surface.

One was Destination Montana, a pie-in-the-sky proposal for 10 wide-open, Vegas-type casinos in Butte. The promoters tried to sweeten the deal with promises of a theme park, a stadium, three pro golf courses, 30 musical theaters and sports training camps.

Working with the Butte people opposed to the idea, Don't Gamble with the Future helped defeat the bill in 2003.

Simpson's last stand against gambling came in the 2011 session when she organized testimony to help kill a bill to legalize live blackjack games and use the permitting fees "for the care of unfortunate and disabled persons."

Those fees would have raised only $98,838 and attracted $150,000 in federal funds to help disabled, mental ill, abused, elderly, developmentally disabled, domestic violence victims, suicidal Montanans and those needing long-term or foster child care.

Simpson called it reprehensible to link gambling activities to funding "for the least able among us." Treatment professionals and law enforcement officials can document cases of child abuse and neglect and family violence cased by addiction to gambling, she said.

"So it's an especially cruel twist to use these particular needs as a ruse to pass a major gambling expansion bill," Simpson told a Senate committee.

Don't Gamble with the Future will carry on despite Simpson's death.

"But we won't have our ear to the ground in Helena," Rolfing said. "But her spirit I hope will infuse us with the same dedication and passion that she had."



Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/horse-sense-simpson-battled-gambling-expansion/article_d7371444-531a-5077-890b-fc194379d61b.html#ixzz1qnaUbYpS