The "License to Steal Stupid People's Money" bill

Gov. Scott's lust for casinos a bad bet
Stephen Goldstein
Columnist

Wake up, Floridians! You're about to be "had."

Tea Party/GOP Gov. Rick Scott and other proponents of expanding gambling in the state are just as bad as Ponzi-schemer Scott Rothstein, maybe worse. Their con is pitching that casinos, more lottery options, slots, roulette, and similar immoral games to take people's money will flood the state with billions of investment dollars, tens of thousands of high-paying jobs, hoards of high-roller (especially rich, foreign) tourists, and buyers of expensive condos. Gambling proponents tout (especially South) Florida as a natural rival to Las Vegas.

But, if casinos are such a panacea for the economy, why is Nevada's one of the worst in the nation? In the end, everyone knows that only the house always wins. The public will get stuck holding the bag and paying for infrastructure and other costs from which casinos, developers and other businesses will be exempted. (That's the way things work in Florida.)

Most of the jobs created will be low-wage, unless casino-owners suddenly grant chamber maids and valet car-parkers stock options. And the state will lose the little that's left of its moral compass by getting in bed with gaming.

When he ran for office, Scott promised he wouldn't stoop to making state finances dependent upon gambling. A former CEO, he claimed he was uniquely qualified to create "jobs, jobs, jobs" and get the economy out of the tank. He said "Let's get to work" more times than Herman Cain chanted 9-9-9 or denied he sexually harassed anyone. A razor slim majority of voters overlooked Scott's shady past as a "successful" businessman and put our future in his hands.

Now, the guv is saying that because the state already has gambling, he's open to allowing Vegaslike casinos. Pants on fire! In fact, expanded casino gambling has always been on his radar. Just two weeks after his election, he made a stealth visit to Sheldon Adelson, owner of the Las Vegas Sands and other casinos, when they discussed something other than desert flora and fauna, I suspect. Scott has just been waiting for the right time to make a move.

Now, on the pretense of saving the economy, he's acting out of personal desperation.

After a full year in office, the guv is failing: Our economy ain't goin' anywhere, and "tricky Rick" is trying to save his political skin by gambling on gambling to create all those jobs he promised and to make up budget deficits. But what tangled webs he weaves, when the governor deceives.

Last year, in his first budget, he went back on his promise to not decrease education funding. This year, he's going back on his pledge to not expand gambling to undo some of the damage from his going back on his promise to not decrease education funding.

To raise more money for schools, he wants to increase the number of retailers selling (the disproportionately high number of losing) lottery tickets and to add more machines where you can buy them. By the time he's through, you'll probably be able to gamble in church and on every street corner — or wager intravenously. And odds are, he'll soon want a game named after him: the "Scott Pot."

Any proposed legislation to create resort destination casinos should be called the "License to Steal Stupid People's Money" bill — and should be defeated. Any elected official who votes for it should resign or be impeached. Like other Grover Norquist lapdogs, the governor and much of the Florida Legislature signed a pledge never to raise taxes. But they have no pangs of conscience about encouraging people to bet (aka throw their money away) on anything, at anytime, anywhere, even though the odds are overwhelmingly against them.

Florida needs to attract world-class business and industry with long-term growth potential to put its economy on a solid footing. Gambling is not a substitute for sound fiscal policy and economic development. Government should not depend upon a craps shoot or leadership upon the roll of the dice.