{"id":179394,"date":"2021-07-12T15:52:36","date_gmt":"2021-07-12T22:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=179394"},"modified":"2021-07-14T05:16:59","modified_gmt":"2021-07-14T12:16:59","slug":"former-louisiana-governor-snared-in-casino-scandal-dies-at-93","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/former-louisiana-governor-snared-in-casino-scandal-dies-at-93\/","title":{"rendered":"Edwin Edwards, Former Louisiana Governor Snared in Casino Scandal, Dies at 93"},"content":{"rendered":"

Edwin Edwards, a flamboyant, poker-playing former Louisiana governor convicted in a casino licensing scheme, died Monday. He was 93.<\/p>\n

\"Trina
Gov. Edwin Edwards and Trina Scott Edwards pose in July 2011 after getting married. The former four-term Louisiana governor died Monday at 93. (Image: NPR<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The four-term governor died of respiratory problems at his home in Gonzales, just southeast of Baton Rouge, the state capital. He had been under hospice care and was with family and friends at his death shortly after daybreak, according to the Associated Press.<\/p>\n

Despite Edwards\u2019 federal conviction and reputation for corruption and roguish\u00a0<\/span>behavior, supporters in his home state viewed the Democratic governor favorably as a champion of the downtrodden and marginalized. As a boy, he had seen a speech by populist Louisiana politician Huey Long. From that, Edwards said he adopted a philosophy that it is the job of government to \u201cserve the needy, not the greedy.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Family spokesman Lee Honeycutt said in a statement that Edwards recently recalled that he loved Louisiana and \u201calways will.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

I have lived a good life, had better breaks than most, had some bad breaks, too, but that\u2019s all part of it. I tried to help as many people as I could and I hope I did that, and I hope, if I did, that they will help others, too,\u201d Edwards said toward the end of his life, according to Honeycutt.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Trina Scott Edwards, the former governor’s widow, said her husband\u2019s last words were to their son Eli, who turns eight on Aug. 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cEli told him every night, \u2018I love you.\u2019 And he told Eli, \u2018I love you, too.\u2019 Those were his last words,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Federal Gaming Conviction<\/h2>\n

After defeating neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke in the 1991 governor\u2019s race, Edwards \u201cset up the mechanism\u201d for legalized casino gambling in Louisiana, according to WWL-TV<\/i>. The state now has 13 riverboat casinos, one land-based casino in New Orleans, and four racinos. Sports betting recently has been legalized in the state and is expected to be operational by next year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

In May 2000, Edwards was convicted for his role in the awarding of riverboat casino licenses. A federal jury found Edwards guilty on 17 counts of racketeering, mail and wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering, according to news accounts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. testified that he attempted to obtain a riverboat casino license by giving Edwards a briefcase with $400,000 in cash, according to reports. DeBartolo later pleaded guilty<\/a> and was given two years probation and a $1 million fine. The NFL then pressured DeBartolo to turn the football team over to his sister.<\/p>\n

After being released from a federal lockup in 2011, Edwards, then 83, married a prison pen pal, Trina Grimes Scott, then 32. She was his third wife.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey sent me to prison for life, and I came out with a good-looking wife,\u201d Edwards quipped.<\/p>\n

Las Vegas Gambling Losses<\/h2>\n

Known to host $10,000-ante poker games at the governor’s mansion, Edwards came under fire in the 1980s when reports surfaced that he lost more than $2 million during 17 trips to Las Vegas casinos. During these Nevada gambling excursions, he used names such as T. Wong and T. Lee in an effort to hide his identity, according to the FBI.<\/p>\n

Historian Lawrence Powell called Edwards \u201cthe last of the buccaneer liberals who governed in the tradition of Huey Long,\u201d the Washington Post <\/i>reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were characterized by a redistributionist politics, where you could always see progress in lifting people out of poverty \u2014 but it was linked to easy political morals,\u201d said Powell, a history professor emeritus at Tulane University in New Orleans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Edwin Edwards, a flamboyant, poker-playing former Louisiana governor convicted in a casino licensing scheme, died Monday. He was 93. The four-term governor died of respiratory problems at his home in Gonzales, just southeast of Baton Rouge, the state capital. He had been under hospice care and was with family and friends at his death shortly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":179397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEdwin Edwards, Former Louisiana Governor Snared in Casino Scandal, Dies at 93 - Casino.org Former Louisiana Governor Snared in Casino Scandal Dies at 93<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Edwin Edwards, a flamboyant, poker-playing former Louisiana governor convicted in a casino licensing scheme, died Monday. He was 93. The four-term Former four-term Louisiana Gov. 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