Exaggerations and outright dirty tricks

A most disappointing and one-sided editorial from the Miami Herald -- to be expected perhaps -

Exaggerations and outright dirty tricks
The Miami Herald Editorial The Miami Herald

OUR OPINION: In the battle over casino resorts, all sides need to cool down and focus on the facts
By The Miami Herald Editorial

Casino gambling now being considered in Tallahassee has sparked vigorous debate in South Florida. That’s a welcome change from years of what seemed public passivity to major projects, only to have taxpayers cry foul too late to make a difference.

Three destination resorts — at least two of them eyed for South Florida — would be a game changer for this area’s economy. So it’s good that residents are discussing the potential for thousands more jobs, high-end tourism and more tax revenue, and concerns like traffic, public safety and quality of life.

It’s too bad that such public inquiries have been mired by exaggerations (outlandish crime estimates from opponents and overzealous jobs numbers from proponents). And now outright dirty tricks (including the alleged unauthorized use of Miami Rep. Carlos Trujillo’s Tallahassee line — a practice called “spoofing” — to solicit voters to call and push for casinos).

The Senate version of the resorts legislation has been a disappointment. It opens the way for more parimutuels to offer casino games and lowers the state’s tax on parimutuels to 10 percent from the current 35 percent of slots revenue. That’s without the “racinos” having to invest the $2 billion that full-fledged casino operators would spend to qualify for a license.
The House bill imposes some sanity into the current hodge-podge of gambling options and could do away with the type of games that prey on the poorest locals and elderly — the so-called maquinitas and Internet cafes that have proliferated. And it would require that any resort first get voters’ approval. Local governments could negotiate on fees or taxes for casinos to pay for traffic improvements and safety.

On Friday, a House Economic Affairs subcommittee is expected to vote on the resorts bill, HB 487, and both sides are mounting their offense at a feverish pace.

Truth be told, gambling is all around us. At the Indian casinos from Tampa to south Broward and west Miami-Dade counties, at dog and horse tracks and jai-alai frontons from the Panhandle to South Florida, at corner stores that sell Florida Lottery tickets. So the discussion of crime generated by one resort in a city has to be put into the current context, today’s reality.

Sadly, opponents of casino gambling are waging their battle as if this were 1986, when the Lottery was first approved by Florida voters and casinos were off-shore attractions — not 2012 when gambling, in its many forms, is all around us. Comparisons to Atlantic City or Las Vegas fall flat for cosmopolitan Miami, already renown as the gateway to the Americas and an international center for banking, trade and tourism.

The bigger question for opponents should be: Would one, two or three high-end and well-regulated resorts be better in exchange for the state clamping down on low-end forms of gambling?

Casino proponents, for their part, ought not expect quick approval from the Legislature just because Florida needs jobs.

The grand scale of the Genting Group’s proposed resort on the bayside property the Malaysian firm bought from The Miami Herald’s parent company, McClatchy, raises valid concerns of a much bigger resort than the now thriving north side of downtown can accommodate without major road widening and transit options. And it brought into question how such a resort might interact with the arts museums and theaters next door.

Legislators should focus on the facts. First step: Let voters decide Florida’s future.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/02/2621870/exaggerations-and-outright-dirty.html#storylink=cpy