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Editorial cartoonist Chan Lowe of the Sun Sentinel has proclaimed the obvious: big name brand casino gambling is coming to sunny South Florida, and we’re not just talking Tribal casinos.
State politicians are hunkering down and working on bills to help bring Las Vegas style casinos to the Sunshine State.
A major gambling bill could come out of the 2014 legislative session, which starts in March, according to the Tampa Tribune.
Earlier this year, a multistate illegal gambling investigation resulted in dozens of arrests and the resignation of Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll. Strip mall based Internet cafes have since been shut down statewide.
Lowe writes:
I love to hear pro-gambling forces use the word, “gaming,” as if we’re all sitting around on a farmhouse porch playing dominoes or tiddlywinks, and that there’s no downside. In truth, the argument that gambling brings with it prostitution, drugs and other crimes is a hollow one. We already have plenty of that in South Florida, so a mere change in degree may be worth the extra jobs and income it will generate. We aren’t talking about sending some God-fearing, righteous community down the road to perdition.
Big-time, institutionalized casino gambling does have one fellow traveler, though — something that the region will never be properly prepared for and whose threatened arrival may keep many South Floridians awake with night sweats:
Wayne Newton.
The Las Vegas Sands is one of the big name casino operators looking to enter the South Florida market by way of a mega casino
A bill failed to pass in the Legislature last year that would have permitted three new destination hotel-casinos in the region.
