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By JAMES A. SMITH SR.
“I’m very, very concerned, because this destination place is going to be right smack in the middle of my district,” she said. “And I don’t want to see my district become Atlantic City.”
Margolis told her colleagues: “Miami is a great international destination now without gambling. … What more can I say? I don’t need to have a casino there.”
The committee also received testimony from three representatives of the pari-mutuels industry in the state.
“Does the state just want tax revenues out of the industry? Or does it also want capital investment and jobs as part of that overall equation?” asked Donn Mitchell, chief administrative officer of Isle of Capri Casinos, Inc.
Committee Chairman Garrett Richter, R-Naples, said the committee plans to hear next month from representatives of companies that hope to start resort casinos in Florida. He indicated the panel will have at least one other pre-session meeting, with likely field hearings this summer in Orlando and Miami to seek public comments.
Richter said he doesn’t expect the committee to meet during the legislative session that begins in March. He is collaborating with leaders of the Florida House of Representatives to hire a consultant to conduct an independent study of the state of gambling in Florida.
Concerning the prospective consultants, Sen. Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, asked Richter, “Are we requesting what other studies they have done, what clients they have been involved with to make sure that we understand exactly what the product is we’re getting?”
“That’s a very good question,” Richter replied. “No, I can’t. But, yes, I will.”
Sowinski told the Witness after the meeting he was encouraged by concerns expressed by some of the senators.
He said it is “incumbent on folks” opposed to casinos to attend the prospective field hearings “because the [gambling] industry will pay people to pack those rooms and say things in support of it.”
Concerning the independent study, Sowinski said, “I think we’ll have to watch that very closely” to be certain it is not influenced by the gambling industry.
“We’re more optimistic certainly than we have been over the last couple of years that we can get a fair shake at this,” he added.
“What we want and what we think is going to happen is to have both the costs and benefits weighed,” Sowinski said. “And the costs of this to our society are tremendous. Taxpayers end up subsidizing the cost of addiction, of society dependence, of law enforcement costs, of adjudication of criminals, [and] everything that results from casino gambling.”
If all the facts are known it’s a “no-brainer that we ought not have more gambling in Florida. In fact, we ought to have less of it,” he said.
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Gambling industry proponents’ claims during the meeting were “amazing,” Bunkley told the Witness.
“To hear them tell it, the benefits of gambling to Floridians rivals getting the news that we’ve found a cure for cancer,” he said, adding the disease is actually an “apt description for gambling activity that will quickly spread across Florida if it is not kept in check now.
“And though it is a very long shot, remission of gambling in Florida would be a very good thing,” he said.
Bunkley urged Florida Baptists to “educate themselves on this important issue, [and] then contact their local state senators and house members voicing opposition to any further expansion.”
With reporting by News Service of Florida
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