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Virtues maven may have played last slots
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Elayne Bennett, wife of conservative virtues maven William Bennett, says her husband is "not addicted" to gambling and has not lost millions of dollars at casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.
"We are financially solvent," she said Sunday from their Chevy Chase, Md., home. "All our bills are paid."

But expressing annoyance at the attention generated by news about his gambling, she said her husband may have pulled his last slot-machine lever. "He's never going again," she said.

According to Newsweek and The Washington Monthly magazine, the former Republican Cabinet secretary and author of the best-selling The Book of Virtues is a high roller who has lost as much as $8 million over the past decade playing mostly slots and video poker. The magazines reviewed internal casino documents, including some that showed him wiring $1.4 million to cover losses over one two-month period.

There are no accusations that Bennett has done anything illegal. But the story, published on the magazines' Web sites Friday and picked up by news organizations over the weekend, is resonating because of Bennett's long-held reputation as a leading conservative voice on moral issues and family values.

The magazines reported that the former government drug czar and Education secretary is a "preferred customer" with a revolving line of credit of at least $200,000 at each of four casinos. They also said he receives thousands of dollars in free limousines and hotel rooms and has racked up losses of more than $500,000 at a time during trips to the casinos.

Bennett left the government in 1990 after serving as former president Ronald Reagan's Education secretary and former president George Bush's drug czar. He is a founder of Empower America, a conservative, Washington-based think tank, an author and a prolific public speaker who warns of declining moral values.

Bennett told Newsweek that "over 10 years, I'd say I've come out pretty close to even." He disputed claims that he's lost millions of dollars and said he's never put his family finances at risk. "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," he said. Bennett and his wife have two teenage sons, John and Joseph.

Bennett did not return calls seeking comment Sunday. But his wife said she'd like her husband to tell his side of the story. She said he gambles three or four times a year. "He's not addicted to it."

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