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Editorial
Who’s to blame for the gambling expansion?
May 18, 2009
JAMES A SMITH SR.
Executive Editor

Try looking in the mirror—you might just see one of the persons most responsible for the fact that the Sunshine State is about to experience a gambling expansion of historical proportions.

If you have the courage, read on to see why.

The blame game has started in Tallahassee in the wake of the capitulation of the House of Representatives to the Senate resulting in passage of a gambling package that authorizes the governor to negotiate a gambling compact with the Seminole Indian Tribe and advances the pari-mutuels’ interests across the state. Crist still has to sign the bill, which is a foregone conclusion, and the Seminoles have to agree to the compact, which seems likely.

Indeed, there’s plenty of blame to go around for the gambling expansion.

Of course, the blame largely belongs to Gov. Charlie Crist, although I’m sure he would see it rather as credit due him.

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In a 2006 interview with me, Crist said he opposed gambling expansion—a position he repeated to many other news media while campaigning for office. I never believed him, and my skepticism was proven valid when after only 11 months in office Crist negotiated a gambling compact with the Seminoles that three prior governors (of both political parties) refused to do.

After the Florida Supreme Court invalidated Crist’s compact last year, ruling he lacked authority to do it— especially since it included illegal games, our governor aggressively and shamelessly lobbied the Legislature to pass the compact. Indeed, he personally showed up several times at the legislative conference committee, sitting on the front row to pressure legislators. He also implied he would veto certain bills favored by legislators if they did not pass a gambling bill.

In the Legislature, Crist found an ally not only in the Senate, of course, but also in the supposedly anti-gambling House of Representatives. Both bodies deserve their share of the blame for the gambling expansion.

Although the Senate is notorious for its pro-gambling posture, we should not so quickly pass by these players for their role in the recent debacle. Every year the Florida Senate, led by Sen. Dennis Jones (R-Seminole), passes pro-gambling bills. This year, they passed a catastrophic gambling expansion that made prior efforts look mild, ratcheting up the pressure on the House to relent.

A notable exception, indeed one of the very few true heroes in this otherwise villainous episode was Sen. Ronda Storms, a longtime member of First Baptist Church in Brandon. At the expense of severe opprobrium from the leadership who would have preferred she simply vote no while staying quiet in her seat, Storms stood up and told the truth to the body and the rest of the silent Legislature that the bill was a “huge mistake” they would one day regret.

The House is a greater disappointment because of its now soiled reputation of being anti-gambling. House leaders failed miserably, even though the catastrophic expansion desired by the Senate was modified.

Incredibly, the House had multiple opportunities to walk away from this outcome, but did not for reasons we may never know. Either because they lacked the courage or they were threatened or cajoled to yield, the House leadership failed pro-family citizens, perhaps because they made the political calculation voters did not care that much about gambling. So much for statesmanship.

As much culpability as the House, Senate and especially the governor bear for gambling expansion, in the end, the ultimate blame rests with inactive and willingly or unwillingly complicit citizens.

What’s most disturbing about the relentless march towards more and more gambling in our state is that each new development actually makes every citizen more and more complicit in the evil.

Every expansion is demanded in response to the last, and each is predicated on providing more revenue to the state for education. “Do it for the children,” Crist nauseatingly repeated in his full-court press for the Seminole compact.

And, each time the citizens and/or legislators succumb to the sham. Later, the state requires more and more types of gambling to make up for the inevitably poor return on those gambling dollars, especially since independent studies prove casino gambling costs government $3 for every $1 of revenue it generates.

Further, each new gambling development entraps more and more citizens—not just as taxpayers’ whose tax burden is relieved by gambling revenue (as a supposedly “voluntary tax”), but as participants in the gambling enterprise as its pernicious, incessant reach entices more and more gamblers. Unconscionably, the state depends on making its own citizens losers to help pay the government’s bills!

What’s worse, even if citizens out of moral conviction resist gambling, many are nevertheless made tacit accomplices in their acceptance of direct aid from the state in the form of Bright Futures scholarships for promising college students, largely funded by the Lottery, or by gambling dollars flowing into public school districts across the state—with the strong support of the public education establishment.

I know parents who were scoffed at recently by a financial aid official at one of Florida’s major state universities because they would not accept Bright Futures money for their eligible child. Incredulous, the official asked, “Why in the world would you reject the Bright Future scholarship?” The official’s amazement was even greater when the mother responded, “Because the money comes from the Lottery and we oppose gambling.”

I understand many families cannot or chose not to make this kind of sacrifice and feel obligated to accept Bright Futures money for their children’s education. But, this is an example how citizens are made complicit in the evil of state-sponsored gambling. And, the gambling lobby knows it, which is why our state is being pulled down this seemingly inescapable abyss.

Enough of the blame game. What do we do?

There are at least two reasons evangelicals, especially pastors, should understand this issue is not over and they have vital roles to play hereafter.

First, the expansion is not done—not by any means. Crist still has to negotiate the Seminole compact and the Legislature will have to approve it. Further, the Senate didn’t get all it wanted and the legislation sets the stage for more legislative battles on gambling as the Seminoles and pari-mutuels come back seeking approval for various new games. If, in the future, the Legislature approves more games for pari-mutuels, local referendums will be required to approve those games. Soon, coming to a county near you, will be the gambling fight—if you will engage it.

Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, this issue is not over because the lives that will be destroyed in the wake of the recent gambling expansion will be tragically on display in local communities. It would be easy for non-gambling Christians to conclude, “I don’t gamble. Therefore, it’s not my problem.” Such an attitude is unbiblical, denying Jesus’ instruction to love our neighbors.

Indeed, churches—with plenty of persons (no doubt, including members and/or regular attenders) who will be newly ensnared in gambling—must have a renewed pulpit proclamation on the evil and dangers of gambling. And pastors must be ready to minister to the victims of this insidious evil.

The next time you look in the mirror, ask yourself if you’ve done your part to stand against the evils of gambling in our state—and resolve to change if the answer is no.

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