Gambling foes have odd way of showing it
BY BETH REINHARD
breinhard@MiamiHerald.com
''I oppose the expansion of gambling,'' Republican Gov. Charlie Crist said repeatedly during his campaign.
Granted, he said it with a wink and a nod, as casino boss Donald Trump hosted fundraisers for his campaign, and the gambling industry and the Indian tribes poured in millions of dollars. But he said it.
''I oppose the expansion of gambling,'' he said.
Crist refused to elaborate. At one point, a campaign spokeswoman explained: ``When [he] says he's against the expansion of gambling, that's just what he means.''
But by ''expansion,'' apparently he didn't mean the gradual but unmistakable march toward more ways to gamble at more places for more hours with more money. Because that is what is happening.
Consider these new laws:
• Permitting the three racetracks and one jai-alai fronton in Broward to add 500 more slot machines each and expand their operations to 18 hours during the week and 24 hours on the weekends.
• Allowing these casinos to offer conveniently located ATMs, although not inside the casinos, for gamblers disinclined to taking complimentary shuttle buses to nearby banks.
• Allowing poker rooms to increase hours and betting limits and to run domino games for money.
• Allowing bingo halls to sell instant tickets similar to the Florida Lottery.
Reasonable people can argue: These measures even the playing field with Indian gambling venues, replenish the state budget during a real estate crunch, and generate revenue to offset property tax cuts.
Instead, Crist quietly allowed these laws to go on the books without his signature -- except for the bingo bill, which he signed without fanfare.
Contrast that approach with his bill-signings that come with the production value of a Broadway show.
A bill to lower taxes is trumpeted in a multicity fly-around at the homes of grateful taxpayers. A bill to ensure a voting ''paper trail'' is touted in a ceremony symbolically set in Palm Beach County, the epicenter of the 2000 recount. A bill to require elementary schools to offer physical education is glorified at the Miami Dolphins training camp in Davie.
Asked about the slots bill, Crist referred to the fact that it was the Broward voters who approved the establishment of slot machines at parimutuels.
''The people in Broward have indicated how important this issue is, and I didn't want to stand in the way of it,'' he said. ``I have the option of signing or not signing. The ones I am enthusiastic about, I will choose to sign.''
Florida is at a critical tipping point on its way to becoming a gambling Mecca. The Miami-Dade County Commission will decide in two weeks whether to give voters another crack at slot machines in a Jan. 29 referendum. On the horizon are video lottery terminals across the state and Las Vegas-style slot machines at the Seminole Tribe's casinos.
Republican state Rep. Marco Rubio of West Miami also opposes ''the expansion of gambling.'' Yet as the speaker of the Florida House, he, too, could have stopped these bills.
One of his top lieutenants, Republican state Rep. David Rivera of Miami, is poised to run the pro-slots campaign in Miami-Dade if happens. Asked whether he would campaign against it -- as former Gov. Jeb Bush did in 2005 -- Rubio said: ``I don't know if I have that kind of influence, but if people ask me my opinion, I will tell them I oppose it.''
And by ''oppose,'' you mean exactly what?