D.D. 07/27/05

Speaker Pro Tempore of the House, Lois DeBerry admitted recently that she took $200 in cash from an undercover FBI agent posing as a representative of E-Cycle, a proported computer recycling company set up in a sting operation titled Tennessee Waltz. DeBerry says she accepted the gift while on a birthday trip to Tunica with then-Rep. Kathryn Bowers, one of the legislators officially indicted. DeBerry says she put the money in a nickel slot machine and didn't win anything. She also claims E-Cycle reps gave her a gift certificate to a spa that she never used. Sounds fishy to me. $200 would give you 4000 pulls in the nickel slots. Anyone who's been to a casino knows that you usually win small amounts just enough times to keep you pumping money. In fact, according to this source on slot machine odds, even on tight slots around 90% of the money put into the machine is returned to players. Perhaps DeBerry put her winnings back into the machine and ultimately lost it all, but perhaps she should have spoken more precisely in light of all the controversy wrought by Tennessee Waltz.