Jun18
Supreme Court's Decision Impacts Florida's Online Sports Betting Regulations
Seminole Tribe Backs Florida Gambling Bill
November 5, 2018 Christopher Hohenstein
This week, the fate of gambling in the state of Florida will be decided as residents are to be faced with a casino ballot referendum question during midterm elections. There is at least one party who is strongly interested in seeing the ballot turn to success.
Florida’s Seminole Tribe has reportedly provided $1 million to the Voters in Charge committee who is pushing the agenda of getting people to vote in favor of the casino construction.
Fateful Tuesday
People of Florida will be taking to polling locations on Tuesday, November 6th and the key decision they will have to make is whether to leave the legislative power of deciding future casinos in the hands of state lawmakers…
…or to take matters into their own hands by making this a thing of a referendum.
The Seminole Tribe, which holds a great deal of power in the gambling sector, is the one pushing for “pro” casino option the most and it is hoping that the required 60% will be reached. This would instate the Amendment 3 to the Florida Constitution.
(You can get to know more on this Amendment – called Voter Approval of Casino Gambling Initiative on this page).
In fact, the Seminole Tribe’s agenda is so serious and all-out important that they’ve given another $1 million to Voters in Charge on October 31st in order to provide all the necessary funding for the final week of activities before the election takes place.
Curious Opposition
Since February 2017, Voters in Charge have been given $44.1 million in total, but what is very unorthodox about this is that the two massive donations come from two groups with contrasting interests.
Seminole Tribe, the pro-casino group, has donated $24.35 million while Disney Worldwide Services, has given $19.65, lobbying that Voters in Charge make sure the casinos stay away from the wider Orlando area, where Disneyworld’s resorts, theme parks and family-friendly atmosphere reigns.
The Seminoles, on the other hand, also don’t want commercial slot machines to expand throughout the state, and that table games such as blackjack don’t expand to card clubs.
What Disney and Seminoles have in common is that they both hold in high regard that it should be voters, not politicians, who should have the final say in matters such as this.
What Are The Odds?
Things can change very rapidly and take a complete U-turn even when they appear to be at their safest – that’s what happened to the Amendment 3 chances of being voted for in only a matter of two months.
In September, the poll found that 71% of voters would the Amendment 3 which is 11% more than what is needed for it to . However, after the group Citizens For Truth About Amendment 3 began operating and went on a $9.9 million marketing offense, the polls conducted in October that the number of voters who would vote “yes” to Amendment 3 was cut to just 54%.
That’s 17% less than in September which is a massive win for the Amendment 3 opposition and one result that puts Tuesday’s vote in a complete state of uncertainty.
Source:
“Seminole Tribe puts another $1M behind Amendment 3 push”, Drew Wilson, November 1st, 2018.
Leave a Reply
Related News
This political mess of lobbying and intertwined interest is never in the interest of people. Whatever comes out of this referendum – and I doubt that it will change anything – it’s not going to be good.