A debate between presidential candidates is set to take place in Las Vegas in about two weeks. The American Gaming Association (AGA) has created a questionnaire for the candidates to fill out. The results will be used as a guide for voters and distributed to almost one million gaming employees within the United States. The questionnaire process is part of the Gaming Votes initiative. Gaming Votes wants to educate the candidates on casino gaming industry issues. The industry turns over about $240 billion annually in the U.S. economy.

In early voting and battleground states, casino gaming is a big deal, creating over 500,000 jobs and contributing as much as $75 billion to local communities. CEO and President of the AGA, Geoff Freeman, stated that before casting a vote, employees in the gaming industry need to know where the candidates stand on the casino industry and on the important issues the industry faces. The AGA encourages the candidates to take time to demonstrate their support, through the questionnaire and in other ways.

Gaming is specifically the focus of the questionnaire but it includes other business issues. The goal is to gauge the comfort of the candidates embracing the casino industry as they campaign across the United States, where gaming is a driving force behind the economy and supports the growth of jobs for locals. Candidates are being asked by the AGA if they would agree to meet with employees at a casino and if they are in support of the industry that has hundreds of thousands of employees.

Several topics are covered in the questionnaire including illegal gambling, daily fantasy sports, immigration, tourism, and voters’ positive views of gaming, regulation and innovation. The AGA plans on using the information obtained via the questionnaire to create a voter guide that will be handed out before voting begins. This is the first time a voter guide of this nature will be created and it will be available as hard copy as well as online.