GAMBLING IS FACING WIDESPREAD OPPOSITION

Gambling may be facing a possible losing streak in some parts of the country.

Alabama voters recently rejected their governor's plan for a state lottery. South Carolina's highest court upheld part of a referendum that said video gambling machines must be unplugged July 1. Tennessee's attempts to get a lottery this year fell short in the state Senate. What once seemed an easy sell to states for economic prosperity is finding growing disfavor among religious leaders and others.

Make no mistake: Gambling is still firmly entrenched in the nation's Bible Belt. Alabama still has its dog tracks and high-stakes bingo. Florida, Louisiana, Virginia, Texas, Missouri and Kentucky have lotteries. A number of states operate racetracks. There are casinos along rivers in South Carolina, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Mississippi and Louisiana.

But a backlash is gaining steam at the grass-roots levels led by a number of organized religions. It's not just outside gambling interests that are being targeted. State-run operations such as lotteries are finding more opposition. For example, ministers and other gambling opponents are organizing against a proposed lottery vote in South Carolina in November 2000.

Many states have been wrestling with the question of gambling for years. South Carolina, for example, legalized video gambling in 1986. Opposition grew as these video games moved into convenience stores and corner bars. Perhaps the lowest point came when a 10-day-old baby died in a sweltering car while her mother gambled. A former governor called video games the "crack cocaine" of gambling.

The court ruling in South Carolina to unplug the $2.8 billion video gambling industry is being welcomed by a growing number of citizens. Nationwide gambling may become an election-year issue not only with ballot issues, but for candidates. In 1996, video poker was tossed out of 33 Louisiana parishes with the help of church leaders. Republican Gov. Mike Foster, who worked to outlaw the games, faces a GOP challenger who claims the governor didn't go far enough to rid the state of gambling.

Billions upon billions of dollars are funneled into gambling nationwide. But this backlash is forcing more people to reconsider where the dollars are going, and who really benefits from easily accessible games of chance.