A bill opening the door for large destination resorts featuring casino gambling made it through a Senate committee Tuesday, just weeks after a similar bill failed to gain its support.
Sen. Oscar Braynon II, D-Miami Gardens, saw the Commerce and Tourism Committee move his bill allowing as many as five destination casino resorts in Florida, even though a nearly identical bill was pulled by Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole, last month.
Jones bill sowed contention between potential developers of large-scale casino resorts and the owners and operators of Floridas existing pari-mutuels, which allow limited gaming options. The new bill resolves most of those differences by taxing both types of gaming venues the same rate -- 10 percent -- and allowing for the expansion of pari-mutuels.
Braynon and supporters of his bill touted the anticipated 100,000 jobs that would be created if five resorts were constructed, as well as the tax revenue generated.
"I'm going to support this bill because, quite frankly, we need the money," said Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee. "It looks like that's the only way we're going to get any money into Florida, and jobs," he added.
The bill moved through the committee on a narrow 4-2 vote, with Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, and Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, voting against the bill.
Flores chided her fellow senators for leaning on gambling to paper over the states budget woes, and worried about the fallout of bringing in large casinos, which are often associated by social conservatives with crime and gambling addictions, in addition to gambling being viewed as immoral in and of itself.
"I think it's a sad day in Florida when we've made a decision that the way we're going to fix our economy is by expanding gambling," Flores said.
Republican and Democratic senators alike have fretted over cuts to education, health care and state worker pensions, and some on the committee seized at the opportunity to vote for a bill that could boost the economy.
This is the only bill I have seen that actually produces jobs, said Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach.
The bill would create a centralized gambling commission that would oversee all gaming operations in the state, and create five zones in Florida which would allow for one casino resort in each zone. The commission would choose which companies would be able to build in each zone.
For Flores, however, there is only one place a large casino is going to be built -- in her Miami district. She noted that the Orlando area was exempted from the zones in an amendment that was tacked on to the bill Tuesday.
No ones going to put it in the Panhandle, we already excluded Orlando because of Disney World, so were going to put it in my backyard, Flores said.
Gaetzs objections centered on the states existing agreement with the Seminole Tribe, which allows for slot-machines and casinos on their lands. The current agreement rakes in about $235 million a year in tax revenue for the state. Braynon admitted his bill would break the compact, but said that revenue from one resort alone would more than make up for the Seminole Tribe taxes.
Despite the support in the committee, the bill faces an uphill climb, as Gov. Rick Scott and House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, have both expressed their resistance to expanding the state's gambling footprint. A new poll from Viewpoint Florida, a conservative survey group, shows that 49 percent of Floridians favor expanding casino gambling, while 47 percent are against it.
Reach Gray Rohrer at grohrer@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
