CHAMBER TAKES ON GAMBLING: 'Florida is a family-friendly state and gambling is not a family-friendly industry' (with POLL)

As talks of gambling continue to swirl around the state and Legislature, the Destin Area Chamber of Commerce has put its foot down and issued a resolution in opposition of a proposed bill that would expand gambling.

 “I think that a lot of the people out there who are in support of this might not understand the actual impact this would have in a community,” Chamber President and CEO Shane Moody told The Log. “(Casinos and gambling) actually hurt small businesses and communities.”

The bill, which was sponsored by Reps. Erik Fresen (R-Miami) and Ellyn Bogdanoff (R-Fort Lauderdale), would create a new gaming regulatory agency and allow for “destination resort” casinos in Florida. While there is still a long way to go until Florida would be a full-fledged gambling state, opposition to the idea is plentiful in Destin and Okaloosa County.

At City Hall, Mayor Sam Seevers told The Log late last week she had not yet seen the chamber’s resolution and no discussions have taken place about the City Council taking up the measure.

Councilman Jim Wood said he would have “no issue” with echoing the chamber. Having grown up in Mississippi, Wood wrote in an email to The Log that he has first hand experience with the effects that casinos have in a community.

“Any arguments that gambling is good would be a tough sell for me, “ he wrote. “I grew up in central Mississippi with a casino that went in about 20 miles away on an Indian reservation that ended up having detrimental impacts on my local community.”

While it can be argued that casinos would be a great source of revenue generation in an area, Wood points to areas such as California and Nevada, which have gambling, but are struggling financially. He wrote that California has the largest single-state deficits in the nation and Las Vegas has one of the highest foreclosure percentages in the country.

“Gambling, in my view, is not the revenue panacea that many in the state government perceive,” he said.

As the Destin representative on the Okaloosa Board of County Commissioners, James Campbell told The Log that while the county hasn’t taken up the issue yet, he doesn’t see much support for gambling in the area.

“As strong as Okaloosa County is, as part of the Baptist/Bible Belt, I would think most people would be against it,” he said. “I don’t see anything like that happening any time soon.”

According to the resolution issued by the chamber, “Florida voters, on three separate occasions, rejected the legalization of high-stakes casino gambling.” It goes on to say that studies have shown that when casinos are introduced into a developed tourism economy, gambling has had devastating effects on established local businesses.

“This fact was proven in Atlantic City, where 40 percent of local restaurants and one-third of the local retail establishments closed following the introduction of casino gambling,” the resolution states.

Not everyone is opposed to the idea of gambling in Florida though. In March, Webster Franklin of the executive director of the Tunica Convention and Visitors Bureau in Mississippi spoke to tourism and marketing officials at Sandestin and boasted the benefits gambling could bring to an area, saying Florida was a “sleeping giant.”

“It’s already the largest tourism attraction on the East Coast, so when you add that element to it, it’s just that much more money that would be put into the Florida economy.”

“It’s still not recognized for the economic impact that it had, and for the image-changing ability it had for Mississippi,” Franklin added. “I think elected leaders in our states need to realize the value and to not say what’s always worked is going to continue to work.”

But Moody maintains gambling is not something that fits into the mold of Destin or the State of Florida.

“Florida is a family-friendly state and gambling is not a family-friendly industry,” he said.