When Ralph Reed was the director of the Christian Coalition, he called casino gambling “A cancer on the American body politic.”

But now, Mr. Reed is emerging as a stealth lobbyist for some Indian casinos, paid indirectly through Mike Scanlon’s company, Capital Campaign Strategies.

Journalists, including this reporter, have documented about $4 million in secretive payments from Mr. Scanlon’s company to Mr. Reed’s companies – Century Strategies and Capitol Media, which originated with the Coushatta tribe of Louisiana and the Choctaws of Mississippi.

The $4 million does not include payments from Jack Abramoff’s former law firm, which investigators are still tracing and calculating.

I first reported these disguised transactions in the July 12 edition of the Nation magazine. At the time, Mr. Reed flatly denied receiving any money from Messrs. Scanlon and Abramoff, even though I had the invoice documents proving it. Mr. Reed was so furtive that on one of these invoices for $100,000 to Mr. Abramoff’s law firm, dated February 20, 2002, he listed the reason only as “Louisiana Project Mgmt Fee.”

A story by Shawn Martin in the Au gust 8 issue of American Press of Louisiana documented $1.2 million flowing from the Coushatta tribe, through Mr. Scanlon, to Mr. Reed.

The money was paid for Mr. Reed to mobilize local Christian ministers to oppose two smaller Indian casino projects that would have cut into the profits and geographical monopoly enjoyed by the Coushatta’s large casino in Kinder, La. One proposed new casino was in Texas and the other in Alabama.

Coushatta members and three others gaming lobbyists say Mr. Reed also was paid to prevent Louisiana riverboat gambling licenses that would have reduced the Coushatta’s casino profits.

The Coushatta casino takes in $30 million a month in gambling revenue, with many customers coming from Texas and Alabama.

Finally, in late August, Mr. Reed dropped his denials and admitted to the Montgomery Advertiser that his two Georgia-based companies had received up to $4 million from the Coushatta tribe, paid through Mr. Scanlon.

Mr. Reed’s company had already received a subpoena from a grand jury for all banking records and e-mails records involving Messrs. Scanlon and Abramoff.

In finally admitting this $4 million, Mr. Reed claimed he was paid out of “non-gambling enterprises” of the Coushatta tribe. He also acknowledged Mr. Abramoff recruited him to work for the tribe.

Senate sources say Mr. Reed’s distinction is not credible, since gambling revenue dominates the tribe’s finances and these funds are not segregated.

Mr. Reed, the Southeast regional chairman of the Bush-Cheney campaign, has never registered as a lobbyist for any tribe.