John S. McCain, 1936-2018

America lost one of its great statesmen this week, one of the few I would call a personal hero, and gaming lost a great friend. Not only was Sen. John McCain (R) an avid craps player and boxing patron (the man who coined the phrase “human cockfighting” to describe the UFC), he was also the co-author of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. This was a piece of Reagan-era legislation whose ramifications are still being felt very powerfully today. It sowed the seeds for what would grow into a $30 billion-plus industry, with no end of gaming-fueled prosperity in sight. McCain came down on the wrong side of tribal rights once or twice: One thinks of the Keep the Promise Act, aimed at preventing Arizona‘s Tohono O’odham Tribe from opening a casino in Scottsdale, but IGRA outdoes the accomplishments of, say, William Harrah, Sam Boyd and Howard Hughes all rolled together. Gaming and tribal rights have lost a great friend an American, leaving a void that will not soon be filled. Such men come along but rarely.