Florida Legislature to continue gambling debate
House, Senate differ on deal with Seminoles
By Josh Hafenbrack
Tallahassee Bureau
Copyright © 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Monday, March 23, 2009
TALLAHASSEE: A gambling gulf is widening in the state Capitol, pitting legislators who view the Seminole deal as a cash cow against anti-gambling forces resisting a large-scale expansion of slots and card games.
The House, long an anti-gambling stalwart, next week will release legislation to scale down Gov. Charlie Crist's $100 million-a-year deal with the Seminoles, seeking to remove blackjack and baccarat tables from Indian casinos. That approach comes with a downside: less revenue for the state.
The chamber is on a collision course with fellow Republicans in the Senate, who advocate a comprehensive gambling deal that would generate $1 billion through tribal casinos and pari-mutuel facilities. That could mean putting blackjack tables across South Florida and video-lottery terminals at tracks elsewhere in the state.
Who will blink?
An opponent of gambling expansion, Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, said casinos would take years to ramp up and meet their tax revenue potential. And gambling comes with social and economic costs that would offset gains to the state, he said, citing a legislative study showing an expansion of Indian casinos would take away businesses from convention hotels and other tourism-related businesses.
"There's a great temptation, because we're faced with a tight budget, to say let's just fill in the gap and let's find $1 billion here," said Galvano, who chairs the House committee reviewing the Seminole agreement. "If we could do that, I'd be more than happy. But we have to be realistic in what we can achieve."
Earlier in the week, though, Senate Regulated Industries Chairman Dennis Jones, R-Seminole, said in an interview that state has to get money from somewhere. Gambling is a better option than raising local property taxes to pay for schools, he said.
"We're clearly looking for a [gambling deal] that produces revenue," he said. "And should the House send us a bill that does not produce significant revenue, we probably would not have much interest in it."
The gambling conflict will play out against the backdrop of a deepening budget crisis. Even after plugging in federal stimulus money, legislators must fill a $3 billion hole with spending cuts, higher fees and taxes, or gambling.
For Republicans, options for cutting are running out and the desperate need for cash could force them to choose between two core constituencies — the anti-tax crowd and religious conservatives opposed to gambling.
"If we don't use additional pari-mutuel revenues, what are you going to cut instead?" said Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales. "There's no free lunch."
Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, in a break with other Republican House leaders, said she wants to consider the $1 billion gambling scenario. Gambling already has spread everywhere, she said, through an ever-growing Lottery, tracks and card rooms.
"Times are different — we have to look for money," she said. "Just give me my options. Sometimes you have to take the lesser of two evils.
"Whether you put your money down in a slot machine or you put your money on a blackjack table or you put your money to race rats around a track, doesn't seem to matter to me," she added.
But among rank-and-file House Republicans, there is deep-seated moral opposition to gambling. The Christian Coalition is lobbying House members on the long-term social costs, arguing a higher cigarette tax would improve health and is a better revenue option.
A $1 per pack increase in the state tax on cigarettes would generate about $900 million in annual revenues, state economists say.
"I oppose gambling as a revenue source," said Rep. William Snyder, R-Stuart. "I believe it breeds crime. I believe it's hard on marriages."
Even so, it's a "tough environment" to argue against a revenue source, acknowledged Dennis Baxley, a former Republican legislator who now leads the Christian Coalition of Florida. "They're obviously under tremendous pressure to figure out how to roll out this budget," he said.
Adding to the complexity, two reports released Friday indicate a gambling expansion on tribal lands have economic downsides. If Indian resorts expand, tourism-related industries like hotels and convention centers will lose $100 million in annual business, the Legislature's top economist said. And gambling on tribal lands will hurt Lottery sales and accelerate the decline in the pari-mutuel industry, Florida TaxWatch predicted.
Josh Hafenbrack can be reached at jhafenbrack@SunSentinel.com or 850-224-6214.