I never believed him.

In an interview last summer, I asked gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist whether he thought there was too much, too little, or just enough gambling in Florida and he replied, "I don't think we should expand gambling." He said it with the same level of conviction as when he told me he was "pro-life," while also refusing to affirm even one public policy restriction to limit abortion.

That is to say, he didn't mean it.

And, the evidence of Crist's duplicity is now clearly before us: Last week he signed legislation allowing charitable bingo halls to sell instant tickets similar to the Florida Lottery and allowed to become law without his signature legislation permitting Broward pari-mutuels to increase by 500 the number of slot machines at each of the three facilities, operate for longer hours, and put ATMs on the premises so cash-strapped losers can turn over more of their money to the casinos, and to allow poker rooms to increase hours and betting limits, as well to run dominoes games.

After Crist blessed the legislation with his signature—or allowed it to become law without his signature—Crist said, "The people of Broward have indicated how important this issue is, and I didn't want to stand in the way of it. I have the option of signing or not signing. The ones I'm enthusiastic about, I will choose to sign."

The net effect is the same—a major expansion of gambling is underway, thanks to Charlie Crist.

The governor really doesn't oppose the expansion of gambling—he just needed to say that he did in order to give the appearance of opposition for those voters who are concerned about Florida becoming a gambling paradise.

I'm sorry for anti-gambling voters who believed Crist and gave him their vote. They should have known better.

Miami Herald veteran political reporter Beth Reinhard wasn't fooled. In a June 30 column, Reinhard eviscerates Crist's feigned opposition to gambling expansion with the headline, "Gambling opponents have odd way of showing it."

Noting Crist's stated opposition to gambling expansion, Reinhard noted, "Granted, he said it with a wink and a nod, as casino boss Donald Trump hosted fundraisers for his campaign, and the gambling industry and the Indian tribes poured in millions of dollars. But he said it. ... But by 'expansion,' apparently he didn't mean the gradual but unmistakable march toward more ways to gamble at more places for more hours with more money. Because that is what is happening."

Reinhard goes on to assert, "Florida is at a critical tipping point on its way to becoming a gambling Mecca," noting that the Miami-Dade County Commission is set to vote July 10 on a measure to allow county voters to vote once again on a referendum to allow slot machines to be added to Miami-Dade pari-mutuel facilities. The referendum would be added to the Jan. 29 presidential primary ballot.

Miami-Dade voters narrowly defeated slot machines two years ago—largely due to the aggressive campaigning of Gov. Jeb Bush. But the gambling industry's pressure to bring the issue back for voters' re-consideration is unrelenting, even though Broward's slots have failed to meet revenue projections.

Before they vote July 10, Miami-Dade County commissioners should read a June 11, 2007, Wall Street Journal report, "Bad Odds: As more states look to win the economic jackpot with casinos, evidence suggests they are playing a losing hand." The report notes that studies are increasingly finding that casinos are not the economic boon supporters claim as gambling cannibalizes other businesses.

The other element in turning Florida into a "gambling Mecca," is the Indian casinos. On June 22, the U.S. Department of the Interior informed Gov. Crist he would have 60 days to negotiate an agreement with the Seminole Tribe permitting Las Vegas style slots—like those in Broward—at their casinos, interpreting a federal Indian gaming law to mean that a state must permit on Indian reservations the same level of gambling that is permitted elsewhere in the state. Since Las Vegas-style slots have been allowed in Broward, they must be at the Indian casinos, so the argument goes.

The Seminoles, who have filed a lawsuit to force the state to allow the slots, are willing to negotiate an agreement, including giving the state a piece of the revenue, in order to avoid a possible protracted court battle. Crist, meanwhile, is interested in an agreement as a means to getting more tax revenue, especially in light of recent lower-than-anticipated revenue projections and demands to reduce property taxes.

Incredibly, while much of the gambling expansion is due to Florida voters' narrow approval of Amendment 4 in 2004, which allowed Broward and Miami-Dade to have the slots referendums, there is an important case before the Florida Supreme Court that could upend the expansion.

Before voters went to the polls in 2004, Floridians Against Expanded Gambling (FAEG) filed a lawsuit in September 2004 attempting to have the initiative stricken from the ballot after it found evidence of "massive fraud," including the use of signatures of dead and "phantom" voters while collecting the necessary petitions to put the matter on the ballot.

Although Circuit Court Judge Nikki Ann Clark refused to act on the lawsuit before the 2004 election, and then ruled after the election that the matter was "cured" by virtue of the approval of Amendment 4, Florida's First District Court of Appeal ruled 2-1 and later the full panel voted 9-3 to send the case back to Clark, ordering that if she finds "significant fraud" the amendment must be invalidated. The gambling titans responded by asking the Florida Supreme Court to step in and answer whether the signatures can be challenged after they're certified by the secretary of state and voting has begun, and whether the amendment can be invalidated after the vote.

If the gambling industry loses in the courts, the slots in Broward County will have to be shut down, although the case could take years to be fully resolved. By then, Florida will have been fully addicted to the gambling tax revenues.

Crist, it should be noted, is not alone in his anti-gambling deceit.

It took the Republican-controlled Legislature to pass the legislation that Crist has now made law. Many of those legislators, including most of the leadership, also profess to be opposed to gambling expansion. And yet, the bills somehow found their way through the legislative maze where there are numerous ways for bills to die—the fate of thousands of them, except those the leadership favor with the opportunity for consideration.

Indeed, Speaker of the House Marco Rubio, R-Miami, and Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, deserve their share of the blame for the gambling expansion that is now underway in Florida. They have failed voters who trusted them to stand in the way of more gambling.

Nevertheless, leadership begins at the top. And, there's no doubt that Gov. Charlie Crist is most responsible for the gambling peril for which Florida is now being subjected. Without his blessing, the Legislature would have not moved as aggressively on these matters. And even if it did, a truly anti-gambling governor, like Crist's predecessor, would have vetoed the bills.

Charlie Crist is no Jeb Bush—and his rolling out Florida's red carpet to the gambling industry is perhaps the most obvious way Crist is undoing one of Bush's most important legacies.

It is a perverted, truly evil notion that our state should depend on its revenues by counting on its citizens as gambling losers. In spite of what seems an unstoppable expansion of gambling, Christian citizens should continue to oppose at every turn this evil.