Next Vegas: Florida’s gamble on casinos
Two powerful state senators are betting their legislation permitting five mammoth, minimum 1,000-room casino hotels in the cash-strapped and tourist-dependent state will be a new gaming Mecca to potentially rival Las Vegas.
Local voters would have to approve the measure but it’s a long-standing idea in the state with proposals floating around every year.
Gaming is nothing new in Florida.
Florida has a state lottery.
The Seminole Indian Tribe has seven operating gambling facilities, including the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood. Gaming already provides state revenues. The state also permits betting at dog and horse track.s
In the Governor’s first press conference since taking office, newcomer Rick Scott told reporters he doesn’t want Florida to "become very largely dependent on gaming for revenue" and noted the state already allows gambling. But he did not say he opposed it.
Florida Senator Mike Haridopolos (R) took a pro-gambling position telling a Tallahassee radio station:
“We’re a big-time gambling state, and we need to figure out in general how we’re going to maximize revenue because people are going to gamble.”
Orlando’s stance as a family destination has led Walt Disney World and other major attractions to oppose new gambling venues.
Dick Batchelor, a Democrat from Orlando who served in the Florida House of Representatives for eight years, told the (Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel newspaper:
"We all know it’s about money, but rather than do the right thing and set better priorities, they’re going to the vice industry. The bottom line is, ‘Is it good for Florida?’ and I would suggest it’s not at all good."
The Seminole Tribe is also expected to mount serious opposition.
There’s a lot of money at stake.
Florida’s existing Indian casinos in 2009 raked in US$2 billion, according to the St. Petersburg Times.
The two senators anticipate that gambling will lure five million new visitors from out-of-state each year.
The casinos would also have a half a million square feet of meeting space.
The lawmakers who are introducing the legislation run the Senate Regulated Industries Committee, which oversees gambling: Dennis Jones, R-Seminole, the committee’s chairman, and Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, the committee’s vice chair.
The legislation would authorize what Jones calls one "destination resort" in each of five districts across the state. The casinos would require approval by local referendum.
The two biggest opponents of the plan are business interests that would lose money if it is approved and others who generally dislike the moral aspects of gambling.
The State Senate recently heard a report showing how thirteen other states have collected hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues after opening their doors to traditional Las Vegas style games, including Pennsylvania which saw a $1 billion dollar revenue windfall.
Haridopolos said new casino gambling legislation has about a “50-50” chance of being approved.
By David Wilkening
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