'Gaming' bills potentially devastating

John Sowinski: 'Gaming' bills potentially devastating to existing businesses; don't let Florida gamble on its future

One issue two views: casino gambling What do you think of proposals for destination resorts? They're devastating: Casinos will cannibalize existing state businesses
John Sowinski, a native of Fort Pierce, is President of NoCasinos.org, Orlando.

You can almost set your clock by it.

Whenever we are in a down economy, casino gambling promoters come out with a new plan to expand legalized gambling in Florida. This time they're calling it "destination casinos" and they want our legislators to pass a bill that would legalize full-scale casino gambling.

A Malaysian gambling conglomerate has hired 25 lobbyists to push the idea of building some of the world's biggest casinos here in Florida. The casino they have planned alone is so big it could house four to six of the largest casinos in Las Vegas.

There will be a lot of discussion on this subject during legislative session that began this week, so it is important for Floridians to know a few things that will provide context to what they will be reading and hearing.

First, when casino interests say "gaming," they really mean "gambling." Gaming is what our kids do with their Wii or Xbox. Gambling is when you wager money.

Second, when they say it will create jobs and tax revenue, what they aren't telling you is that most of these jobs and taxes are at the expense of jobs and tax revenues that already exist in our economy. That's because gambling is a predatory industry, and in already-developed business environments, it primarily cannibalizes economic activity from existing businesses. That's why 40 percent of Atlantic City's restaurants closed and one-third of their retail establishments went out of business when casinos opened there.

And while gambling promoters claim mega-casinos will create jobs, current economic data tells another story. If high-stakes casino gambling is such a good job creator, then why does Nevada lead America in unemployment, foreclosures, personal bankruptcy, violent crime and divorce?

This track record is why Florida's leading business organizations — the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, the Florida Attractions Association and the Florida Retail Federation — all oppose this expansion of gambling.

Third, gambling promoters will not tell you the proposed mega-casinos also will rack up social costs and cost of crime that will be borne by taxpayers. Counseling and treatment for compulsive gamblers and public support for the families they leave destitute, the cost of regulation, law enforcement, crime, insurance claims — the list goes on and on. According to the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling, 35 percent of addicted Florida gamblers admit to committing crimes to support their addiction or pay gambling debts. Mega-casinos mean more addicted gamblers, and more addicts means more crime.

This reality is why Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Florida Sheriffs Association have come out in opposition to the expansion of gambling in Florida as well.

For all of these reasons and more, expanding gambling is the wrong social and economic policy for Florida. Casino interests say new gambling will be "strictly limited." Our legislators should ask them this: If it is such a great thing, why not have it everywhere?

The reality is this: from the broken promise of the lottery until today — every time gambling has been expanded in Florida, that expansion has snowballed into exponentially more gambling than was originally promised. In the history of gambling policy in Florida, there is absolutely no exception to this statement.

Gambling is a cancer on our society. It continues to spread, unless somebody draws the line and says "no more." It is time to draw the line, and stop the expansion of gambling in Florida.