The Florida Chamber of Commerce, which supports keeping the gaming compact with the Seminoles but opposes the expansion of gaming including destination casinos, released a poll on Thursday showing Floridians back the compact.
With the Legislature convening in Tallahassee next week, one of the issues facing it is Gov. Rick Scott’s renewal of the compact.
The poll shows a slight majority of those surveyed--53 percent--want gaming opportunities to stay where they are in Florida while 27 percent want to expand them and 19 percent want to reduce them. Asked how the Seminole compact has impacted Florida, 30 percent think it has been mostly good, 11 percent see it as mostly bad while 54 percent are in between. Almost everyone surveyed--95 percent--believe the state’s entertainment options, currently helping draw in record number of tourists, are family friendly to some extent.
“Floridians are nearly unanimous in agreeing that our state is a family-friendly tourist destination, and support a continued partnership with the Seminole Tribe of Florida,” said Mark Wilson, the president of the Florida Chamber. “The Seminole Tribe of Florida’s compact presents Florida with the most reasonable path toward controlled gaming operations that also provide significant economic stability to Florida.”
Asked it they support a 20 year decade compact with the Seminoles on gaming, more than a third of those surveyed--37 percent--back the idea while more than a quarter--27 percent--oppose the idea and 35 percent are undecided. When provided details about the compact such as economic impact provided by the pollster, support moved up considerably to 75 percent and opposition fell to 20 percent.
The poll was conducted by Public Opinion Strategies on behalf of the Florida Chamber and pollster Neil Newhouse agreed with Wilson‘s assessment.
“Our polling continues to find that Floridians are satisfied with the agreement with the Seminole Tribe of Florida and believe the compact will continue to benefit the state of Florida,” said Newhouse.
The poll of 700 Florida voters was taken from Dec. 28-Dec. 30 and had a margin of error of +/- 3.7 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
