Panel hears testimony on video lotteries

TALLAHASSEE (FBW)-As legislators prepare to begin a new session in the midst of tough economic conditions and tight budget constraints, the House Subcommittee on Gaming & Pari-mutuels heard testimony Feb. 18 on a proposal to expand gambling in Florida as a means of generating new revenue.

The two-hour hearing in a packed House of Representatives meeting room included proponents and opponents of permitting video lottery terminals (VLTs) at the state's existing 32 pari-mutuel wagering facilities. Among the supporters was the sponsor of VLTs legislation, Rep. Ron Greenstein (D-Coconut Creek), and opponents included Bill Bunkley, legislative consultant for the Florida Baptist Convention.

While proponents argued that permitting VLTs would generate as much as $1 billion in badly needed state revenues, opponents contended that the economic and social costs of such revenue outweighed any perceived benefits.

Senate President Jim King (R-Jacksonville) is among the strongest backers of VLTs, while House Speaker Johnnie Byrd (R-Plant City) and Gov. Jeb Bush generally have expressed concern about gambling expansion. Florida voters have rejected gambling (1976, 1986 and 1994) in the last three decades.

Noting that VLTs are often called the "crack cocaine" of gambling because of its highly addictive nature, Bunkley said, "It's no surprise that the Florida Baptist Convention for many years in the past and currently does not support any type of expansion of gambling. In fact, we'd love to see the existing gambling in the state repealed."

Describing Florida Baptists to the representatives as "people who live and work in your constituencies," Bunkley added, "I can tell you that video lottery is going to be one of the number one things we are going to be informing" Florida Baptists about.

In his brief testimony, which was cut short because of limited time remaining in the hearing, Bunkley cited an October 26, 2000, article from The Argus Leader of Sioux Falls, S.D., that surveyed the addictive nature of video lotteries as evidence of why the Florida Legislature should decline to expand gambling.

Earl Grinols, a professor of economics at University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign who noted that he was not a compensated "expert witness," told members, "If gambling is a good thing, meaning there are benefits to society that exceed the costs, then we should expand it to every corner in the state. There should be no limitations on it at all. But if it has more costs than benefits than it needs to be limited, regulated and perhaps banned. The issue boils down to, are there more benefits than costs?"

When considering the cost-benefit analysis, including effects on crime, business, suicide, family costs and other social factors, Grinols said the most conservative estimates suggest that while increased gambling would result in a "social benefit" of $35 per adult annually, the "social cost" per adult annually would be $190.

Ginols said that the VLT legislation was "essentially" a proposal "to convert racetracks into casinos."

"There is no question in my mind ... that gambling fails the cost-benefit test," he said. "If you introduce it to the state of Florida, you can collect the taxes. ... Maybe you can save the racing industry. You can do all these things and you can damage the overall well-being of the residents and citizens of Florida at the same time."

The sponsor of the VLTs legislation in the House, Rep. Ron Greenstein (D-Coconut Creek), told the committee, "There's tons of money sitting within an unregulated component of our state," referring to the already existing VLTs permitted within Indian reservations and the so-called "cruises to nowhere."

Greenstein said one of the objectives of his legislation is to "capture and protect the revenues of the state."

Greenstein commended Chairman Dennis Baxley (R-Ocala) for holding the hearing, noting, "This is a lot further than we got last year; we had to sneak the bill" into a different piece of legislation which ultimately failed to receive approval.

Florida State University political scientist and former executive director of the National Public Sector Gaming Study Commission, Lance deHaven-Smith, testified in favor of VLTs as a compensated "expert witness" of the Florida Greyhound Association.

He argued that legalization of gambling in the last three decades has not resulted in more gambling, but a shift from illegal to legal gambling. He also downplayed the effect legalization has had on pathological gambling.

However, Paul Ash, the head of the Florida Council on Problem Gambling, told legislators that a recent University of Florida study found that the Sunshine State is already three times the national average for teens and two times the nation average for adults in problem and pathological gambling.

Contending that compulsive gambling is "a real problem," Ash was careful to note that his organization did not take a position for or against expansion of gambling. "We're just saying, if you do anything ... consider the consequences and do something about adverse consequences." Ash requested that the legislature appropriate $5 million for more treatment programs for compulsive gamblers.

Several persons offered testimony about the negative effect of gambling on their lives. Winter Park psychiatrist Daniel Glennan said, "For many years I've lived a double life." During the week he treated alcohol and drug addicts and on the weekends he was a gambling addict, taking 100 junkets to Las Vegas from 1992-2002, playing as many as 600 games of video poker per hour - one every six seconds.

He said that VLTs are the most addictive form of gambling, noting, "The game is so fast. ... I found it to be like cocaine might be to a drug addict. It absolutely grabbed me."

Belleview resident Michael McDaniel, who worked in the gambling industry for 27 years in Las Vegas, testified, "The industry is not something you want in your backyard. It's not something you want next door. It's not something you want in a county over. The industry is something that eats people. I've watched it take people's lives, including my own, and change it so dramatically that they are never the same."