A coalition of religious and anti-gambling groups are uniting to put pressure on lawmakers in the hopes of killing a proposal that would allow up to three Las Vegas-style casinos in South Florida.

The Florida Catholic Conference, the Florida Baptist Convention, Florida Family Action and Florida Casino Watch held a press conference Tuesday morning to declare war on the casino proposal, sponsored by Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, a Fort Lauderdale Republican whose district is dominated by Palm Beach County, and Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami.

Representatives of the religious groups objected to the “destination resorts” in part because, they said, gambling victimizes the poor and is accompanied by social costs such as addiction, prostitution, bankruptcy and suicide.

“This is the big Kahuna that’s been brought to the table to us. And we’ve shown up to say, ‘no thanks,’” said Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, a former head of the state Christian Coalition. He called the casino plan “the biggest brand change” in Florida.

Florida Family Action head John Stemberger, who also heads FFA’s parent group Florida Family Policy Council, named defeating the proposal his organization’s chief objective during the legislative session that ends early in March.

Stemberger plans to use the Internet to expose lawmakers’ votes on the issue with a “Wall of Fame” and “Wall of Shame” and is asking legislators to sign an anti-gambling pledge. Stemberger achieved success with a similar campaign in 2008 when he shepherded a ballot initiative onto the ballot and into the state constitution prohibiting same-sex marriage.

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Rep. Erik Fresen today filed a suite of highly-anticipated gaming bills that would allow three high-end casinos in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

The 142-page plan(HB 487) creates a seven-member gaming commission and a new state agency – the Department of Gaming Control -that would be responsible for oversight of all gambling ventures in the state except the lottery. Under Fresen’s proposal, the gaming commission would choose who can open casinos in Florida, selecting up to three vendors who promise to bring jobs to the state and spend at least $2 billion, not including the price of the property, to develop and build the “destination resorts.” Bidders would pay $50 million to apply.

Fresen, R-Miami, and Senate sponsor Ellyn Bogdanoff told The Palm Beach Post yesterday that it’s time for lawmakers to step up to the plate and establish a gaming vision for the state instead of the hodge-podge approach gambling-leery lawmakers have taken for decades.

“This is about creating a strategic direction for gaming,” Bogdanoff, a Fort Lauderdale Republican whose district includes part of Palm Beach County, said in a meeting with The Post’s editorial board yesterday evening. “Nobody has taken hold of the gaming issue because nobody wants to touch it. We are an anti-gaming legislature that refuses to deal with this holistically.”

The push for the casinos has spurred the revival of the dormant No Casinos Inc., headed by Orlando PR consultant John Sowinski. Sowinski is joining forces with businesses, faith-based groups and law enforcement officials opposed to the casino proposition.

After the bill was filed, Sowinski issued a press release asking lawmakers to look into a federal investigation into Las Vegas Sands, which is pushing the casino proposal. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Justice Department in March opened an investigation involving the gambling giant’s Macau’s casinos.

“It’s time to ask the tough questions, not fast-track legislation to build the biggest casinos in the world here in Florida,” Sowinski said in a statement. “Legislators should learn more about this investigation before moving a bill forward. They should also learn more about the enormous social and economic costs that mega-casinos would add to Florida taxpayers’ burden.”

Senate President Mike Haridopolos defended lawmakers’ use of the budget to privatize an 18-county region from Polk County to the Florida Keys, said there would be a floor vote on an expansion of gambling and bragged about the state’s job growth in a Q-and-A with reporters this afternoon.

The Merritt Island Republican provided a detailed document to reporters as proof that talks about the nation’s largest prison privatization effort – now on hold after a Tallahassee circuit judge’s ruling that the way the legislature went about it was unconstitutional – had taken place in committees since January and not snuck into the budget at the last minute, as he said unnamed critics have implied. Although privatization was discussed at the meetings, lawmakers did not vote on or release details of any prison privatization plan until it was included in the state budget.

“I wanted to be very clear for those people who had concerns that this was something we stuck in late. This was addressed early and often and people all saw it coming both in the House and the Senate,” Haridopolos said.

The Florida Police Benevolent Association, the union that represents correctional workers, sued Gov. Rick Scott’s administration over the privatization, put by lawmakers into the budget in proviso language and signed into law by Scott this summer. Tallahassee Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford agreed with the union that the use of the proviso language to establish state policy was unconstitutional.

Scott has not yet decided whether to appeal but has said the privatization will happen eventually. And Haridopolos on Thursday said that the privatization will go forward, even if lawmakers have to pass a stand-alone bill when they reconvene in January. The proposal requires that the privatization of 29 prisons in the region cost at least 7 percent less than what the state currently spends – an estimated $22 million annual savings.

“I think the policy’s a good policy. We’re going to face another massive budget shortfall this year. And we’re going to spend more money on prisons and if we do we’ll spend less on education and health care,” Haridopolos said. “I guess other people have other priorities. My priority is to spend less on prisons.”

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Florida Baptists are weighing in with budget advice for Rick Scott, urging the governor to veto a $400,000 provision for a comprehensive gambling study pivoted around a plan to bring resort casinos to Florida.

Bill Bunkley, lobbyist for the Florida Baptist Convention, has written Scott asking him to veto the Legislature’s assignment for the Office of Program Policy and Government Accountability (OPPAGA).  Baptists also want Scott to increase funding for the state’s compulsive gambling program, which absorbs about a two-thirds reduction — to $264,700 — in the budget.

But the resorts casinos idea draws the Baptists sharpest criticism. The Las Vegas Sands promoted the casino-convention center-resort idea as a potential Miami Beach draw. It also muscled-up its lobbying lineup during the recently completed legislative session and is positioned for a return fight next spring.

Supporters see the OPPAGA study as bolstering the effort. But the Baptist Convention sees no reason for taxpayers financing the research.

“The language directs a taxpayer study via the implementing language to determine the benefits of these gambling activities to the state of Florida,” Bunkley wrote Scott. “Nothing is mentioned in the implementing language to generate a balanced report that also explores the huge social costs which the state will without a doubt also be picking up the tab for.”

Bunkley said lawmakers over the coming year also should work to restore the almost two-thirds cut imposed on the state’s compulsive gambling treatment services, reduced in the budget before Scott from $750,000 last year.

Shortly before 2 a.m., the Florida House voted 79-39 to approve the state budget — about 2 1/1 hours after the Senate and following some very hard feelings between the two chambers.

The House then took up the disputed tax break bill (CS/SB 7203) which included reductions for a Jacksonville dog track forced into the bill by Senate Rules Chairman John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine.

But the House remained angered by the Senate’s killing a pair of professional deregulation bills earlier in the night — with House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, saying that move broke an agreement between the two chambers.

“In light of the Senate’s inability to meet that obligation, I’ve decided that our chamber would take the high road…and send it all to the Senate tonight, and leave no ambiguity,” Cannon said.

The House took up the tax-break bill, voted to remove the Jacksonville track provision, repackaged the measure as HB 143 and sent it back to the Senate. With the budget behind them, and the tax-break package structured to their liking, Cannon and House members adjourned at 2:07 a.m., Saturday.

 

When is a casino not a casino? When it’s billed as a “Destination Resort,” as Sens. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole, and Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, have done in a press release announcing legislation that would expand gambling statewide in Florida.

Jones, chairman of the Regulated Industries Committee, and committee vice chairwoman Sachs, are sponsoring a bill that would allow five casinos -one in each part of the state – if local voters approve.

But their 692-word joint press release announcing the “Destination Resorts/Trade Shows” bill (SB 1708) mentions the word “casino” just twice, tucked way down in the details of the measure.

“The possibility of bringing Destination Resorts to Florida includes a host of economic benefits,” Sachs says in the release. “These benefits will manifest themselves in new jobs for our construction industry, tourism, beaches, hospitality, and trades. This new energy and excitement will bring us back to the days when Florida was a mecca for top-notch entertainment and a destination in itself.”

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A gambling deal that promises to bring at least $1 billion to the state over the next five years is on its way to Gov. Charlie Crist, who has promised to sign it into law.

The Florida House approved the measure (SB 622) by a 74-39 vote this afternoon.

It’s the third time Crist and the Seminole Tribe of Florida have signed off on a compact allowing the tribe to operate banked card games, including blackjack, and slot machines at its casinos.

The latest deal would allow the Seminoles to continue banked card games – blackjack, baccarat and chemin de fer – at five of their seven casinos. Cards would not be allowed at the Brighton and Big Cypress facilities.

The agreement could rake in an extra $435 million for this year’s budget and help lawmakers struggling to fill a $3.2 billion spending gap for the year that begins July 1.

In return, the tribe will pay $150 million a year to the state for two years and a minimum of $223 million for three years that.

The agreement with the tribe also lets them keep running Las Vegas-style slot machines at each of their facilities for the next 20 years.

Rep. Bill Galvano, the House’s chief gambling negotiator who helped craft the pact, said the bill won’t expand gambling in Florida because the tribe has already launched the games.

Proponents of the agreement say the deal with the Seminoles could transform Florida into the Las Vegas of the Southeast and pave the way for other, non-tribal gambling operations in the future.

But opponents of the measure argued that more gambling will bring a host of problems to the state.

“If you want gambling like that you should go to Las Vegas. And what happens in Las Vegas should stay in Las Vegas,” said Rep. Ronald “Doc” Renuart, R-Ponte Vedra Beach.
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The Florida Senate approved a $1 billion gambling deal that could transform the state into the Las Vegas of the Southeast, leaving just one more step until the state’s compact with the Seminole tribe is finalized.

The Senate debated briefly before a 29-9 vote on a compact that the tribe has sought for more than two decades and which lawmakers twice rejected in the past two years.

The agreement struck by GOP lawmakers, Gov. Charlie Crist and the Seminoles would allow the tribe to have Las Vegas-style slot machines at each of its seven locations and run blackjack, baccarat and chemin de fer at five of their operations.

The lynchpin of the deal is the five-year agreement with the Seminoles giving them the exclusive rights to run banked card games, including blackjack, at five of their seven facilities, including their lucrative Tampa Hard Rock casino that brings in at least half of all the tribe’s Florida gambling revenue, according to Galvano.

Most important for the tribe is the prohibition against any of the state’s pari-mutuels outside of Broward and Miami-Dade counties to run the card games.

Sen. Ronda Storms spoke passionately against the measure and criticized the lack of money going to gambling addiction programs.

“This is a sad day in the state of Florida where we…won’t even fund treatment. You can call the hotline and they’ll say, ‘Well, we’re sorry about that. Bummer for you,’” Storms, R-Valrico, said. “I say the Florida Legislature is making a mistake and the governor of the state of Florida is making a mistake by going down this road and expanding gambling.”

The bill’s sponsor Dennis Jones defended the measure (SB 622), saying it “doesn’t even expand gaming” because the Seminoles are already running the banked card games at their Tampa and Hollywood Hard Rock casinos.

“What this does..it stops an illegal activity that’s already taking place,” said Jones, R-Seminole. “Let us basically put this issue to rest and move forward.”

House Speaker Larry Cretul asked federal officials to intervene in gambling talks between Florida and the Seminoles, saying negotiations “are at an impasse.”

Cretul wrote a letter today to National Indian Gaming Commission Chairman George Skibine, who met with the speaker and the House’s chief gambling negotiator Bill Galvano yesterday, asking the feds to fine the Indians or shut them down.

Crist this week said he wanted lawmakers to address the gambling compact in a special session in December.

Cretul’s letter indicates that’s not going to happen.

The Florida Supreme Court last year tossed an agreement signed by Gov. Charlie Crist and the Seminoles and lawmakers this year failed to pass a revised version of the pact.

Under Crist’s latest plan, the Seminoles would have paid $150 million a year to the state for education in exchange for Las Vegas-style slot machines and blackjack and other card games at its Hollywood and Tampa casinos as well as its Brighton and Big Cypress locales in Broward County.

The Seminoles have continued to run the games even without an agreement with the state, irking GOP House leaders and Attorney General Bill McCollum, who accuse the tribe of breaking the law.
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Senate President Jeff Atwater put the brakes on an October special session to deal with a gambling compact Gov. Charlie Crist signed with the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, sent Crist a list of questions about the compact – the second deal Crist inked with the tribe – today seeking “clarification.”

Atwater gave Crist until Oct. 9 to respond.

In an interview, Atwater also said he’d like the final compact to include provisions allowing the Palm Beach Kennel Club and other parimutuels around the state to add video slot machines or otherwise expand gambling if voters give the OK in local referenda. Such a measure was approved by legislators in the spring, but was not part of the recent compact Crist agreed to with the Seminoles.

Crist has said he wants lawmakers to meet in a special session in early October to approve the compact and to also consider offshore drilling.

No dice on that, either, Atwater said in a memo sent to the Senate and the media.

“As you all are aware, this issue involves a series of complex conversations with a variety of interests and impacts throughout our State. There are policy decisions to be considered that are not well served by undue haste. If, or when, the Senate takes up this issue it will be in a manner that allows for sufficient time to debate the facts and the merits of such policy,” Atwater wrote.

Shutting down the possibility of any kind of slot machine gambling at the state’s pari-mutuels and giving the Seminoles the right to offer blackjack at any of their casinos could jeopardize Crist and the tribe’s agreement, said state Rep. Bill Galvano, the House’s chief negotiator on the proposed compact.

“Those are red flags,” Galvano, R-Bradenton, said. “We’ll review from here and see where we go.”

Lawmakers laid out a gambling deal for Crist and the Seminoles in a bill the governor signed into law earlier this year.

That proposal allowed the Seminoles to keep blackjack at its Hollywood and Tampa Hard Rock resorts and to offer it at its Brighton and Big Cypress locales in Broward County.

The bill also didn’t mention “Class II” slot machines that look and play like Las Vegas-style slots but are less lucrative for operators.

The compact signed by Crist and the tribe today gives the Seminoles the exclusive rights to operate slots of any kind – including Class II video lottery terminals – anywhere outside of Broward and Miami-Dade counties where Las Vegas-style slots are already allowed.

That could have a devastating impact on the state’s dog and horse tracks, pari-mutuel operators object.

Gov. Charlie Crist and the Seminole Tribe of Florida agreed to a gambling deal today, the deadline lawmakers gave to Crist to reach an agreement with the tribe.

The deal won’t be final, however, until the legislature approves the contract, probably during a special session in October.

The $6.8 billion, 20-year deal allows the Seminoles to offer blackjack at each of their seven facilities.

But that’s not what lawmakers ordered Crist to do.

They told him they would only agree to let the Seminoles have blackjack at their three Broward County facilities and another near Tampa.

Lawmakers must sign on off the deal before it can go into effect.

“Over the last two months, my administration has in good faith negotiated with the Seminole Tribe of Florida a compact that will reap financial benefit to the people of Florida,” Crist said in a statement urging lawmakers to approve the compact.

PATRICK FARRELL/MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Aida Perez of Summerville, S.C., plays the slot machines at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida and Gov. Charlie Crist have until today to agree on a gambling compact that would allow slot machines, blackjack and other banked card games at the tribal casinos.

The Seminoles voted to approve a compact at a behind-closed-doors meeting Friday, but sources say the council refused to accept some provisions sought by the Legislature.

If Crist signs the agreement, he is expected to call a special session in October to have lawmakers sign off on the deal, as required by law. (more…)

Gov. Charlie Crist weighed in on a variety of topics this morning after signing several law enforcement-related bills at the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles this morning.

Sheltered from the blazing heat by tents, slews of department employees dressed in bright red shirts turned out to hear Crist speak and pose for pictures with the governor, who is also running to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez.

Among the bills Crist signed today was one that will expand the state’s DNA database. Law enforcement officials, now limited to taking DNA samples from those convicted of crimes, will now be able to take DNA from anyone who is arrested.

But Crist defended the bill (SB 2276) which civil liberties advocates argue is too far-reaching and have threatened to challenge in court.

“I think it’ll be alright or I wouldn’t have signed the bill. I think that we need to protect first and make sure that our people are safe. I think that this legislation will help us to do that even better,” he said.

Read what else Crist told reporters at a gaggle after the bill-signing after the jump. (more…)

Gov. Charlie Crist on Monday signed legislation setting the outlines for a proposed gambling deal with the Seminoles that could reap the state billions of dollars for education.

Lawmakers gave Crist until Aug. 31 to finish negotiations and sign a pact with the tribe — a step that still remains to be completed. The legislature must approve the contract once one is inked.

Under the 15-year agreement that lawmakers have outlined, the Seminoles could continue to have Las Vegas-style slot machines and blackjack, chemin de fer and baccarat at their two Broward County casinos and one in Hillsborough County.

The tribe would be limited to slots only at its remaining Florida locales, including Immokalee, which it had planned on expanding.

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The Senate approved a gambling bill giving the Seminoles the ability to continue to hold blackjack and other banked card games at their Broward and Hillsborough county facilities in exchange for a guaranteed $150 million a year for education.

The bill (SB 788) also opens the door for more slot machines at parimutuels outside of Broward and Miami-Dade counties where they are already allowed. Voters would have to sign off before that could happen.

The Palm Beach Kennel Club could also use its jai alai permit to open a card room or another dog track under the legislation, which the House is expected to pass and Gov. Charlie Crist has said he will sign into law.

Why the special treatment for the Kennel Club, bill sponsor Sen. Dennis Jones was asked.

The Rooney clan who own the club wants to open another facility north of the West Palm Beach locale. But it’s also for the dogs, Jones said.

“The feeling is that the owners would basically like to convert that…and have a facility in the north county and the south county,” Jones, R-Seminole, said.
“It’s to basically utilize the dogs more so the breeders have more activities…and at the same time a biz decision for the owners of those two permits.”

The Senate approved the measure by a 31-9 vote.

Sen. Jim King had barely caught his breath after lambasting Democrats for threatening to vote against the budget before he launched into a diatribe about Hialeah Race Park getting special treatment in the gambling bill.

The bill, approved by the Senate by a 31-9 vote, will allow the quarter horse track, built in 1925 and a historical landmark, to reopen and eventually have thoroughbred racing and slot machines.

“Here you have an entity that was all but gone, dead and buried, just basically a permit,” complained King, R-Jacksonville. “Not only are they in the mix they are also in the opportunity to run races.”

King took a swipe at Miami-Dade County lawmakers who lobbied diligently to get the special provision for Hialeah.

“I’ve never seen some of them work so hard…but that doesn’t make it right for those of us who’ve been here and who have seen what have happened,” King said. He voted for the bill (SB 788).

Seminoles could have blackjack and other banked card games in Broward and Hillsborough counties but only slot machines at their remaining three facilities and leaves the door open for full-fledged slots in Palm Beach County.

House and Senate gambling negotiators struck a deal late this evening as Gov. Charlie Crist and some tribal members looked on, finishing in time for lawmakers to take a full vote on the gambling package before the Senate is scheduled to end on Friday.

“I couldn’t be happier,” Crist said. “This is a victory for the children of Florida and for education.”

Under the final deal, lawmakers could give permission to voters in any county to approve full-fledged slot machines at pari-mutuels that have held live racing for at least two years, like the Palm Beach Kennel Club. But that would require legislation authorizing the referendum.

In exchange for blackjack at four of their seven casinos, the Seminoles would pay at least $150 million per year plus 12 percent of their earnings up to $2.5 billion. The state share could be as high as 25 percent of the tribe’s net win over $4.5 billion.

“We think it’s important to have these resources to help us get through the next year and couple years,” said Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander, who also led the gambling talks.

House chief negotiator Bill Galvano had said earlier that allowing blackjack in Broward alone would “push the House to the brink” and conceded that the final deal allowing blackjack there and in Tampa Bay “was still a heavy lift.”

Lawmakers will revisit the types of gambling allowed in the state in five years.

Earlier in the day, an agreement seemed unlikely when Galvano accused the Senate of moving backwards with a bid this morning that included a broader proposal for Indian card games than previously proposed.

“Mr. Chairman, I appreciate your offer but I will say that it appears the Senate, with all due respect and notwithstanding your brief explanation, is moving backwards. Backwards from where we want to go in an expansion standpoint. Backwards from where the House is heading. And I’ll look at your offer and we will let you know if it’s necessary to meet further,” Galvano, R-Bradenton, said.

Max Osceola is biding his time down the street from the Capitol after gambling negotiations between the House and Senate blew up earlier this morning.

The Seminole Tribal Councilman is in the same limbo as a crush of lobbyists on the other side of a gambling stalemate.

Osceola sat beside Gov. Charlie Crist this morning as talks took a nosedive after the Senate offer broadened gambling opportunities for the Indians. House gambling negotiator Bill Galvano shut down the talks and now it remains up in the air when he and Senate counterpart J.D. Alexander will meet again, if at all.
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A few hours after the House’s chief negotiator accused the Senate of “moving backwards” on a gambling deal and threatened to call off talks, Senate President Jeff Atwater said he thinks the two chambers are “close” to reaching an agreement before the session ends on Friday.

“I’m frankly just so impressed that we’re down to just a couple of items left that I think if I were looking at odds at the moment my odds would be, now that we’re this close, I think we can come up with something that can work,” Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, said this afternoon.

Rep. Bill Galvano abruptly walked out this morning after Sen. J.D. Alexander presented his latest offer on a compact with the Seminoles that would allow them to hold blackjack, baccarat and chemin de fer at all of their seven casinos. The Senate’s previous offer had limited all of the card games and only permitted blackjack at all of the casinos.

Atwater, accompanied by Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander who is also handling the gambling deal, said he wasn’t surprised by Rep. Bill Galvano’s reaction, saying that it was the “first pushback” after two days of negotiations.

“I don’t think it’s a surprise that in something this significant that we hit a bump. But hopefully they’ll call us shortly and be ready to sit back down soon,” Atwater said.

Atwater met with the Seminoles early this morning and said he believes the two chambers are “finding some common ground” on their disparate plans. The House wants to limit blackjack to the tribe’s three Broward County resorts, which the Seminoles have rejected.

When asked if it was time for Atwater and House Speaker Larry Cretul to take over gambling talks, Atwater said “I don’t think so” before Alexander interrupted.

“Please. Please. Please. Fire me,” Alexander, R-Lake Wales, pleaded in jest.