A group of Las Vegas gamblers has taken its bets out of the casino and anteed up in a Wisconsin House race.

Twenty-nine professional gamblers have donated to Republican Congressional candidate Terri McCormick’s campaign against Rep. Steve Kagen (D), the Appleton Post-Crescent reports. All but one of the donors gave the maximum contribution of $2,400, the paper reports.

Talk about going all in.

McCormick’s campaign attributes the donations to her association with an activist group formed by Las Vegas lawyers that challenges a provision of the recently passed health care reform legislation. The organization, PeopleV.US, questions the constitutionality of a law requiring all Americans to obtain health care by 2014.

“They were looking to endorse a candidate,” McCormick’s campaign manager, Will Johnson, told the Post-Crescent. “They had pledged to donate $100,000 to the people they chose to endorse.”

Overheard on the Hill

“@THE_REAL_SHAQ Welcome to Massachusetts, big guy.”

— Sen. John Kerry in a Twitter message to NBA star Shaquille O’Neal, who signed to play the upcoming season with the Boston Celtics, the Massachusetts Democrat’s hometown team.

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