Reports: Bill Bennett A High Roller

Family Values-Backing Ex-Cabinet Sec A Big Gambler

(AP)  William Bennett, the former Cabinet secretary and family values campaigner, is a high-rolling gambler who has lost millions over the past decade, according to magazine reports.

Casino documents show Bennett is a "preferred customer" in at least four venues in Atlantic City and Las Vegas, Newsweek and The Washington Monthly reported in stories posted Friday on the Web. His favorite games: video poker and slot machines. He has a revolving line of credit of at least $200,000 at each casino, the magazines said.

The former drug policy director and education secretary under Republican presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush doesn't have to have money when he shows up at a casino, according to the magazines, which obtained internal casino documents.

Bennett, who wrote "The Book of Virtues," gets high-roller treatment, including limos and tens of thousands of dollars in complimentary hotel rooms and other amenities.

In one two-month period, the documents show him wiring more than $1.4 million to cover losses at one casino. In one 18-month stretch, Bennett visited a number of casinos for two or three days at a time.

Some of his losses have been substantial. According to one casino source, on July 12, 2002, Bennett lost $340,000 at Caesars in Atlantic City and on April 5 and 6 he lost more than $500,000 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Some casino estimates put his total losses over the past decade at more than $8 million.

When reached by Newsweek, Bennett acknowledged he gambles.

"Over 10 years, I'd say I've come out pretty close to even," he said. "You can roll up and down a lot in one day, as we have on many occasions. You may cycle several hundred thousand dollars in an evening and net out only a few thousand."

Efforts by the Associated Press to reach Bennett by telephone were unsuccessful.

During an 18-month period, documents show there were only a few occasions when Bennett turned in chips - worth about $30,000 or $40,000 - at the end of an evening.

"I play fairly high stakes. I adhere to the law. I don't play the 'milk money.' I don't put my family at risk, and I don't owe anyone anything," Bennett said. The documents didn't contradict his points.

Bennett, along with former Rep. Jack Kemp, is co-chairman of Empower America, a conservative public policy organization in Washington.