Business lobbies launch dueling gambling ads
by Dara Kam | January 10th, 2012Split business groups have upped the ante in the fight over a proposed gambling bill that would allow three mega-casinos in Florida.
The competing lobbies launched a pair of dueling television ads lauding and condemning the measure (SB 710), which cleared its first hurdle in the Senate Regulated Industries Committee yesterday.
Associated Industries of Florida, which favors the measure, unleashed an ad featuring pundit Ben Stein touting the casinos as a job creator and economic panacea.
On the other side, the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s “Bad Bet for Florida” condemned the proposal, which its leaders say would harm the state’s existing businesses and chase tourists away.
Tags: AIF, Associated Industries of Florida, casinos, destination resorts, Florida Chamber of Commerce, gambling
January 25th, 2012 at 6:01 pm
I have family who live near Charles Town WV. They went through this discussion a couple of years ago and finally passed the bill for the sake of jobs. They have not seen any uptick in crime. As Ben Stein says, gambling is already an accepted activity in Florida and we are stupid not to realize and adopt it. How many Florida children suffer more because their parents are unemployed?