Group wants voters to make casino decision
Gambling foes push for amendment to state constitution.
TALLAHASSEE — Gambling opponents are launching a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at making it tougher for casinos to open in Florida.
Voters in Charge has been formed to push for a ballot measure next year that would require any bid to legalize casino gambling in Florida be placed on a ballot for voters to decide.
“People will agree or disagree about casino gambling,” said John Sowinski, chairman of Voters In Charge. “But regardless of your position, given the stakes involved and the money that the gambling industry puts into campaigns and lobbying, the people of Florida should have the final say on whether or not to legalize casino-style gambling.”
Sowinski for several years has led an Orlando-based organization called No Casinos, which is usually allied with Central Florida theme parks and the Florida Chamber of Commerce in opposing gambling efforts.
Although legal experts have long argued that voters must approve a constitutional change to allow casinos, opponents fear recent court rulings may have clouded that standard, giving strength to the idea that state lawmakers could clear the way for casinos.
Sowinski said Voters in Charge is beginning to collect petition signatures and anticipates having the required required 68,314 valid petitions to trigger a review by the Florida Supreme Court, by early 2016. Almost 700,000 signatures, and ballot-language approval by justices, are needed to secure a spot.
Sowinski said support for the amendment has been polling at 70 percent approval. At least 60 percent of voters would have to approve the measure for it to become law.
The campaign launch comes a day after the Seminole Tribe sued the state even as negotiations continue over a 2010 gambling compact up for renewal this year. Without a new deal, by the end of this month, a legal cloud could hang over whether the Tribe can continue offering banked card games at five of seven casinos, including one in Hollywood.
Meanwhile, Sheldon Adelson, who controls the Las Vegas Sands Corp., has apparently abandoned efforts to get a casino resort approved by lawmakers for Miami. Adelson, a top Republican donor heavily courted by the party’s presidential field, is now exploring the possibility of the Atlanta area as a casino resort location.
Voters rejected statewide casino-approval measures three times between 1978 and 1994, but approved a limited slots proposal for MiamiDade and Broward County pari-mutuels in 2004.
A recent poll by the University of South Flor- ida-Nielsen Sunshine State Survey shows opposition to casinos softening, however, with twothirds of Floridians supporting expansion and only 20 percent outright opposed. As recently as the 2012 election cycle, a Quinnipiac University poll put support for gambling at 48 percent and opposition at 43 percent.
In the new poll, South Florida residents are slightly more likely than the state average (37% to 34%) to support Nevada-style casinos. Opposition to any casino gambling at all increases with age, and is highest among couples (23%), those without Internet access (32%) and residents of North Florida (32%).