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Florida Senator shares gaming concerns
• Jeremy Ring speaks out about Seminole Compact
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Wednesday,
May 26, 2010
Florida Senator, Jeremy Ring, in his legislative update at Margate City Hall last week, made some poignant remarks regarding his stand on casino gambling and the Seminole Compact. Although Margate’s share of the Seminole Compact helps to mitigate the increase in police and fire costs associated with the Coconut Creek Casino, Ring said, “I don’t think it [the Compact] addresses the bigger need.”
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Florida Governor Charlie Crist, recently signed into law the Seminole Indian Compact, which guarantees Floridians $1 billion over five years and entitles Margate to an 8.5 percent share of about 5 million in annual casino revenues in exchange for allowing uncapped poker and blackjack effective July 1, at the Seminole Indian Casino in Coconut Creek.
The deal was heralded by the governor as a victory for Floridians, especially during a time when local governments need every dime they can get.
But what the Seminole Compact doesn’t take into consideration, Ring said, is the impact expanded gambling will have on local communities, such as an increase in crime in neighborhoods surrounding the casino and the detriment gambling addictions pose to family life.
“I didn’t move to a gaming city and I don’t believe in casinos in suburban areas where we raise our kids,” Ring said.
The potential negative impact casino gambling has on surrounding communities has been a source of great debate over the years. Many studies on the issue have been inconclusive and clouded by pro-gambling and / or law enforcement bias. Some studies show a rise in domestic abuse and divorce while others show a decline in crime as a result of job creation.
One study, entitled "Casinos, Crime and Community Costs," considered one of the most exhaustive in terms of the number of regions examined (many in Florida), years covered (20-year span) and control variables used (more than 50), found that casinos increased all crimes except murder, “the crime with the least obvious connection to casinos,” states the report.
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Most offenses showed that the impact of casinos on crime increased over time, a pattern very consistent with the theories of how casinos affect crime. The crime-ameliorating effects of casinos through increased employment opportunities and wages for low-skilled people will be concentrated shortly after opening. Also, law enforcement agencies can frequently use casino openings to leverage greater immediate staffing increases, but are unable to sustain this growth. This effect further reduces the immediate impact of casinos on crime. However, over time these effects are dominated by casino-related factors that increase crime. Specifically, problem and pathological gamblers commit crimes as they deplete their resources, non-resident who visit casinos may both commit and be victims of crime, and casino-induced changes in the population start small but grow. The data show that these crime-inducing and crime-mitigating effects offset each other shortly after opening, but over time the crime-raising effects dominate, and crime increases in subsequent years.
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Ring says gaming is okay, but there’s a place for everything, and Coconut Creek isn’t it, he said. He sees Miami a more viable location for casino life. One more assessable to tourists and with an urban infrastructure better equipped to mitigate the social impacts of casino gambling.
Although no ground-breaking for a rumored Seminole hotel has been announced, the Tribe has motioned that they intend to annex a hotel complex to the existing Coconut Creek Casino property—similar to the one in Hollywood, but larger.
The Seminoles have submitted plans to the city of Coconut Creek for a retail component and parking garage on Seminole property, but no plans yet for a hotel.
If and when the 22-plus acre Seminole Indian parcel in Coconut Creek gets put into federal trust, Ring said, “You’ll have the largest casino in the United States in your backyard – 29 stories – four to five times the size of Hollywood, so I support this compact, but I still have some big issues,” said the Senator.
Until the Tribe gets any proposed hotel parcel declared a sovereign territory by the federal Department of Indian Affairs, said Ring, no hotel will be built.
“There has been no indication either way from the Obama administration on where they stand on Indian gaming yet,” Ring said. “So until that happens, I wouldn’t imagine you’ll see expanded construction.”
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