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Editorial: Expanded gambling bad bet for Florida

 
The massive gambling bill offered by House Majority Leader Dana Young deserves serious scrutiny for the damage it could do to Florida.
The massive gambling bill offered by House Majority Leader Dana Young deserves serious scrutiny for the damage it could do to Florida.
Published March 10, 2015

Perhaps it's a scare card to force the Seminole Tribe of Florida to ante up at the negotiating table as a key portion of the tribe's gambling compact with the state nears its end. Yet the massive gambling bill offered by House Majority Leader Dana Young deserves serious scrutiny for the damage it could do to Florida. The last thing this state needs is destination casinos and more gambling, and the focus in Tallahassee should be limited to negotiating a new deal with the Seminoles and helping struggling dog tracks.

Big gambling bills are an annual ritual during the legislative session, and they usually collapse under their own weight. But the game is different this year, and the stakes are higher. A key portion of the compact with the Seminoles that gives the tribe exclusive rights to offer banked card games such as blackjack expires this summer, and negotiations between Gov. Rick Scott and the tribe appear to be at a standstill. The economic situation for many existing parimutuel facilities, particularly the dog tracks, has only gotten worse. Gambling interests just gave generous political contributions to help Scott and state legislators last year, and one group is sitting on prime bayfront property in downtown Miami and is eager to build a casino.

Given Young's leadership position in the conservative House, which has been resistant to more gambling in the past, it would be a mistake to dismiss this year's legislation (HB 1233) as posturing. The Tampa Republican says her bill would bring "an unprecedented contraction of gaming in the state.'' In fact, it's a blueprint for expanded gambling that would damage Florida's image and undermine its tourism marketing toward families.

The legislation would clear a path for two destination resort casinos in South Florida. It would enable the Seminole Tribe to expand games at its Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa and several other locations to include the same menu of roulette, craps and games offered at the destination casinos. It would allow dog tracks in Naples and Palm Beach to install slot machines, and it would reduce the existing tax rates on some gambling. All of these provisions would make gambling more pervasive, and the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Disney and others are right to raise the warning flag.

Young tries to make expanded gambling palatable by requiring the destination casinos to invest $2 billion in their developments and pay state taxes of at least $175 million a year. While the Seminoles would not be paying about $260 million a year to the state if this portion of the compact expires this summer, she says, the casinos would generate at least $350 million a year for the state. There also is a requirement for the destination casinos to make up the difference if the state's income from them does not match tribe revenue from 2014-15. But the expansion of gambling has to be about more than the bottom line.

The Seminoles make a reasonable argument for extending their agreement with the state for exclusive gaming rights. Jim Shore, the tribe's general counsel, and James Allen, who oversees gaming operations and the Hard Rock brand for the tribe, told the Times editorial board Tuesday that extending this portion of the compact with the state would allow the tribe to expand in Tampa and produce additional state revenue. They described the tribe's gambling operation as financially healthier than some of their private competitors, and they suggested projections of state revenue from destination resorts and expanded gambling are optimistic.

While the state's agreement with the Seminoles resulted in more gambling, it helped effectively block destination casinos in South Florida and even more gambling elsewhere. The tribe is on track to fulfill its end of the deal with more than $1 billion generated for the state over five years. Florida also has not experienced the big negatives of gambling seen in Nevada, New Jersey and other saturated markets.

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The governor and state legislators should focus on negotiating a new agreement with the Seminoles. They should allow struggling dog tracks to give up live racing and keep their lucrative card games, which would be both humane and pragmatic. But they should not roll the dice on destination casinos and expanded gambling.