JACKSONVILLE (FBW)—Having failed three times in as many decades to win approval for casinos, gambling forces hope they will finally hit the jackpot next month with a proposed constitutional amendment requiring the approval of Floridians across the state to allow two south Florida counties to introduce slot machines at seven pari-mutuel facilities.

The debate over Amendment 4 is shaping up as a “David versus Goliath challenge” between grassroots opponents and “well-financed” proponents, the Florida Baptist Convention’s Don Hepburn told Florida Baptist Witness.

Hoping to stymie yet again an expansion of gambling in Florida is an unprecedented coalition of animal protection, religious and law enforcement organizations which have joined forces against an industry which opponents believe is prepared to spend “whatever it takes” to finally gain the approval of Florida voters for casino-like operations in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

Amendment 4—which all Florida voters will consider on the Nov. 2 ballot—would authorize “Miami-Dade and Broward County voters to approve slot machines in pari-mutuel facilities.” If the two South Florida counties approve slot machines at dog and horse tracks and jai-alai frontons, the Legislature would be empowered to consider taxing the enterprise, with the revenue going to “supplement public education funding statewide,” backers claim.

In spite of the proponents’ claims, “we believe the people of Florida—and particularly Florida Baptists—will do the ‘right thing’ and reject this slot machine local option proposal,” said Hepburn, director of the Convention’s Public Relations Division.

In what has been until recently a low profile fight, the gaming industry has poured more than $13 million into “Yes for Local Control” (www.yesforlocalcontrol.com), the political action committee formed to win approval of Amendment 4. In early October, television and radio advertising started to flood Florida’s airwaves, with backers of the amendment promising hundreds of millions of dollars of annual tax windfall for education if the measure is approved.

The Florida Education Association and several South Florida teachers’ organizations have endorsed the measure.

Amendment 4 opponents say that Floridians should not be fooled by the promise of education dollars in light of similar promises which have failed to be fulfilled following the 1986 approval of the state lottery.

“They must not think much of our children if the best way we can finance their education is by making losers of their moms and dads,” anti-gambling leader Tom Grey told Florida Baptist Witness Oct. 7.

Expecting to be outspent by “10 or 11 to one,” anti-gambling forces—led by No Casinos, Inc.,—have joined with religious organizations, including the Florida Baptist Convention, and animal protection organizations led by GREY2K USA and the Humane Society of the United States, to form “Vote No on 4” (www.nocasinosfl.com).

Law enforcement organizations, including the Florida Police Chiefs Association and Florida Sheriffs’ Association, have also announced their opposition to Amendment 4, fearing that expanded gambling will bring with it more crime and other social ills. Florida’s Catholic Bishops also announced their opposition to the amendment in a statement posted to the Florida Catholic Conference’s Web site. Also opposed to Amendment 4 is the Christian Coalition of Florida.

Paul Seago, executive director of No Casinos, Inc., told Florida Baptist Witness opponents of Amendment 4 have held meetings across the state to start organizing local efforts to educate voters. Initial organizational meetings in Pensacola, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, Naples, and Fort Lauderdale were held the week of Oct. 4, with future local informational meetings to be set for the final weeks of the campaign.

The information sessions were led by Grey, a United Methodist minister who leads the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion, and Carey Theil, president of GREY2K USA—a national greyhound dog protection organization.

After the Oct. 6 meeting in Jacksonville, Seago and three other leaders spoke with Florida Baptist Witness about their efforts to defeat Amendment 4.

“Last night in Jacksonville we had church people and animal people come together,” Grey said. “I think that’s probably the first time we’ve probably been able to do that.”

Speaking as a minister, Grey said that he believes religious people must get involved in the effort against Amendment 4.

“We now have government that is making losers of its own citizens. It’s tremendously important that churches and faith groups stand-up and speak truth to power. Now in this case … it will be our people against the money and muscle of the gambling people,” Grey said.

According to Seago, as of a Sept. 24 report on the Florida Secretary of State Division of Election’s Web site, the gambling industry has pumped $13.5 million dollars into the “Yes for Local Control” committee.

In spite of the significant money from the gambling industry promoting Amendment 4, Seago believes the grassroots coalition of religious and animal protection activists will defeat gambling forces.

“They have to convince people that this amendment is not about slot machines, that’s about something else and that’s expensive. All we have to do is tell the truth and it’s a lot less expensive to tell the truth,” Seago told the Witness.

Seago dismissed the claim of Amendment 4 backers that the measure will help education.

“They could say the revenue could go to curing cancer, but that doesn’t make this about health,” Seago said. Having studied what failed in prior ballot initiatives, Seago says the gambling industry believes that a slick public relations strategy to “wrap it in bow” of local control and education will finally gain approval for slot machines.

Seago notes that gambling addiction experts call slot machines the “crack cocaine” of gambling because of the highly addictive nature of the game.

The social and criminal implications of expanded gambling have resulted in the opposition to Amendment 4 from the Florida’s law enforcement leaders.

Grey told the Witness that independent studies demonstrate that vastly increased pathological gambling, criminal activity, bankruptcy and other social ills come along with new casinos.

And, while South Florida is the first target, opponents of Amendment 4 warn that approval of the measure will inevitably result in expanded casino-style gambling across the state. “This is about getting casinos into the two biggest counties in the state” as the first step, Seago said.

In addition to opposition on the grounds of expanded gambling, animal protection organizations have joined the anti-Amendment 4 effort because of concern about cruel treatment of animals.

Carey Theil, whose GREY2K USA organization was formed in 2000 to attempt to end greyhound racing in Massachusetts, said Florida “is home to one-third of all greyhound race tracks nationwide” and “I think Floridians should be ashamed of that.”

Theil told the Witness the dogs are “caged 22 hours a day” and often do not receive proper veterinarian care. “Make no mistake: this is a cruel industry, an industry that has been outlawed in a number of states.”

Adoption of Amendment 4 will result in further abuse of greyhounds, Theil said, because the facilities will only be able to operate the slot machines if they are also running the dog races. Additionally, the slot machines will subsidize the pari-mutuel facilities which are currently financially unstable.

The pari-mutuel facilities have hired “the best political consultants, spin-doctors that money can buy” to spend “enormous dollars on slick television ads and attempt to prop-up and subsidize their failing businesses,” Theil said.

Veterinarian technician Barbara Henderson opposes Amendment 4 both because of concerns about gambling expansion and animal cruelty.

A member of Garden City Baptist Church in Jacksonville who recently moved to Tallahassee, Henderson said, “There’s nothing good about” Amendment 4. If adopted, “In the end, we’re all going to be paying for it in Florida.”

Although a poll by InsiderAdvantage, a non-partisan polling group from Atlanta, released Oct. 7 found 44 percent of 400 Floridians opposed to Amendment 4, a Mason-Dixon poll released Oct. 8 found 44 percent of 625 likely voters support the measure.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Next week, Florida Baptist Witness will take a look at Amendment 1, which would require parents to be notified before a girl can have an abortion in Florida.]