Editorial

Voters in Broward and Miami-Dade counties have already started to cast their ballots in the March 8th referendums whether to permit pari-mutuel facilities in the two South Florida counties to install Las Vegas-style slot machines. And, the rest of the Sunshine State may be living with the repercussions of their decisions for decades.

Propagating the something-for-nothing lie of the gambling industry, proponents of the referendums are bombarding South Florida voters via the electronic airwaves and in slick direct mail pieces promising hundreds of millions of dollars for schools and thousands of new jobs – never mentioning the debilitating social costs that come with gambling expansion.

While most of the rest of the state rejected Amendment 4, large margins of victories in Broward and Miami-Dade propelled the slots measure to a narrow victory, resulting in the local referendum in the two South Florida counties.

Although it is undoubtedly an uphill battle to defeat the slots measures, there are signs that a growing grassroots opposition is taking hold.

Brave public officials – including both mayors of the counties in question and about a dozen other municipal leaders – have stood against the slots referendums in contrast to most other local politicians who are only too ready to claim their share of the slots “prize.”

Additionally, a rag-tag, under-funded, poorly organized and unlikely coalition of religious voters – both from conservative and liberal churches – animal rights activists, and some business leaders have warned South Florida’s voters of the dire consequences that will come to their communities if the referendums pass.

The opposition’s efforts were bolstered recently by a letter from Gov. Jeb Bush to the Christian Coalition of South Florida. The Miami native and long-time gambling foe weighed in with some of the toughest rhetoric yet, persuasively arguing against the slots measures.

In doing so, Bush is bucking the tide of some in his party, both in Florida and across the nation where the Republican governors of California, New York and Maryland are eager to rake in gambling tax revenues to balance their state budgets.

In his Feb. 17 letter, Gov. Bush ridiculed the gambling industry’s pie-in-the-sky claims of billions in new tax revenues as “speculative,” noting a study that expanded gambling is a net loser for the state. Bush also noted that “casino gambling” results in a “cannibalization of existing businesses and increases crime and unemployment rates.”

Bush’s letter also pointed to the social costs of gambling, noting an increase in the number of problem gamblers.

“The only undeniable outcome of approval of casino-style gambling in South Florida is an industry-led drive toward Las Vegas-style casino development,” Bush warned. “If Florida legalizes Las Vegas-style slot machines, it will have a snowball effect. Federal law will require the state to enter into a compact with the Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes, which collectively operate six casinos, for the same type of gambling.”

And, since Federal law prohibits the taxation of Indian gaming, Bush notes “we are likely to hear from the pari-mutuel industry that they need more slots, bigger casinos, and more locations to ‘compete’ in the near future against the Native American tribes.”

Bush concludes, “Florida stands at the cusp. … the big casinos are seducing voters with the hollow promise of more education funding. The true costs are significant and real; long-term decay of our traditional industries and the social fabric of our communities.”

Exactly right! Gov. Bush’s courageous stand on the slots measures deserves our praise.

Whatever the outcome of the March 8 referendums, the State Legislature will have the last word on the implementation of Amendment 4, as it must enact enabling legislation in response to its passage. Rep. Randy Johnson, R-Celebration, has introduced legislation calling for a repeal of Amendment 4.

Florida Baptists should urge Senate President Tom Lee, R-Brandon, and House Speaker Allen Bense, R-Panama City, to allow a vote on Johnson’s measure – as well as urging our respective representatives and senators to vote in favor of the legislation.

South Florida voters, however, can vastly enhance the chance of success for such a repeal by turning back the slots referendums March 8th – and Florida Baptists should be in the lead in these communities educating citizens about the dangers of expanded gambling.

The Broward and South Florida chapters of Christian Coalition have produced a helpful voter guide that ought to be distributed in every Florida Baptist church before election day. The guide may be downloaded at: www.ccsfla.org.

If Broward and Miami-Dade voters don’t reject the something-for-nothing lie of the gambling industry, there’s little doubt that Gov. Bush’s dire prediction will come true – a “snowball effect” of expanded gambling even in the Sunshine State.

Let’s melt the “snowball effect” by defeating the March 8th referendums.