It's difficult to know how to label BUYING PREDATORY GAMBLING SUPPORT with Campaign Contributions....Florida seems EASY and CHEAP!
VOTE BEWARE!
When a candidate you might vote for has GOBS OF CASH, you might just want to question where it came from!
Wondering what Genting, Las Vegas Sands and the Rooneys think about Rick Scott now that they know he was gonna screw them?
By Peter Schorsch on September 29, 2014
Gambling interests have donated more than $3.4 million to Florida lawmakers, mostly Republicans, since 2012.
Much of this money has come from gaming companies who would like to see full-blown casinos permitted in the state, specifically destination resort casinos in South Florida. Genting, Las Vegas Sands, and several other companies have spent millions on campaign contributions and lobbyists with this goal in mind. Since last year, Genting companies have donated more than $1.1 million to Florida politicians, according to state filings. Sheldon Adelson, whose Las Vegas Sands is the world’s largest casino operator, donated $250,000 to Rick Scott’s campaign in 2012 — that year’s biggest gift.
Despite this largesse, gambling interests have little to show for their investment in the political process.
The Legislature in 2012 rejected a Genting-backed proposal that would have allowed the Kuala Lumpur-based company to build a $3.8 billion casino resort. During the last two legislative sessions, efforts to expand gambling have not got out the gate.
Supposedly it has been the conservative Republicans who have been the obstacle to expanded gaming. However, a new report from the Associated Press suggests it’s not just GOP lawmakers in the way of Genting, Sands, et al. blocking gambling expansion, it’s Governor Rick Scott as well.
Scott’s staff nearly reached a multi-billion dollar deal with the Seminole Indian tribe that would have allowed it to add roulette and craps at its South Florida casinos.
The deal, which was scuttled last spring amid resistance from state legislators, also would have opened the door for the Seminoles to build a casino in the Fort Pierce area and would likely have blocked construction of any Las Vegas-style casinos in Miami for the next seven years.
The documents released by the Scott administration four months after the AP first requested them show that the incumbent governor is open to shifting his stance on gambling. Scott previously has been viewed as quiet supporter of opening major casinos in South Florida.
Lobbyists for these interests say that the AP report is “old news” and that if this deal had been presented to the Legislature, it would have either been amended to allow for destination resorts in South Florida or scuttled altogether.
That assessment may be true. Or it could be revisionist history. Or, as in the case of allowing the Seminoles to build a casino in Fort Pierce, it could be a surprise to most everyone (the powerful Rooney family, which owns the Palm Beach Kennel Club, must have looovvveeeddd the idea of new competition just an hour away).
But what this now-dead deal really looks like is an another attempt by Republican leadership to string along Genting, Sands, and other gambling interests in order to raise money from them during a crucial election cycle. Not that any of these interests would have not contributed to Republican legislative candidates, but I wonder if one of them — knowing then what is known today — would have hedged their bets and broken away from Scott or even for Charlie Crist? Probably not.
What the AP story also makes clear is that how to regulate gaming in Florida will be one of the dominant issues during the 2015 legislative session. Or for however long Republican leaders can string along the well-healed gaming interests.
http://www.saintpetersblog.com/archives/161057
Much of this money has come from gaming companies who would like to see full-blown casinos permitted in the state, specifically destination resort casinos in South Florida. Genting, Las Vegas Sands, and several other companies have spent millions on campaign contributions and lobbyists with this goal in mind. Since last year, Genting companies have donated more than $1.1 million to Florida politicians, according to state filings. Sheldon Adelson, whose Las Vegas Sands is the world’s largest casino operator, donated $250,000 to Rick Scott’s campaign in 2012 — that year’s biggest gift.
Despite this largesse, gambling interests have little to show for their investment in the political process.
The Legislature in 2012 rejected a Genting-backed proposal that would have allowed the Kuala Lumpur-based company to build a $3.8 billion casino resort. During the last two legislative sessions, efforts to expand gambling have not got out the gate.
Supposedly it has been the conservative Republicans who have been the obstacle to expanded gaming. However, a new report from the Associated Press suggests it’s not just GOP lawmakers in the way of Genting, Sands, et al. blocking gambling expansion, it’s Governor Rick Scott as well.
Scott’s staff nearly reached a multi-billion dollar deal with the Seminole Indian tribe that would have allowed it to add roulette and craps at its South Florida casinos.
The deal, which was scuttled last spring amid resistance from state legislators, also would have opened the door for the Seminoles to build a casino in the Fort Pierce area and would likely have blocked construction of any Las Vegas-style casinos in Miami for the next seven years.
The documents released by the Scott administration four months after the AP first requested them show that the incumbent governor is open to shifting his stance on gambling. Scott previously has been viewed as quiet supporter of opening major casinos in South Florida.
Lobbyists for these interests say that the AP report is “old news” and that if this deal had been presented to the Legislature, it would have either been amended to allow for destination resorts in South Florida or scuttled altogether.
That assessment may be true. Or it could be revisionist history. Or, as in the case of allowing the Seminoles to build a casino in Fort Pierce, it could be a surprise to most everyone (the powerful Rooney family, which owns the Palm Beach Kennel Club, must have looovvveeeddd the idea of new competition just an hour away).
But what this now-dead deal really looks like is an another attempt by Republican leadership to string along Genting, Sands, and other gambling interests in order to raise money from them during a crucial election cycle. Not that any of these interests would have not contributed to Republican legislative candidates, but I wonder if one of them — knowing then what is known today — would have hedged their bets and broken away from Scott or even for Charlie Crist? Probably not.
What the AP story also makes clear is that how to regulate gaming in Florida will be one of the dominant issues during the 2015 legislative session. Or for however long Republican leaders can string along the well-healed gaming interests.
http://www.saintpetersblog.com/archives/161057
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