We need a state constitutional amendment to ban all wagering in Florida, argues Stephen Goldtsein. Oddly, raising taxes is considered a cardinal sin, but gambling is supposedly a blessing — especially since the state began pimping it through the Florida Lottery.
gambling
Florida Lottery Spikes to Record $5.3 Billion in Sales; Only $1.4 Billion to Education
The Florida Lottery’s increased revenues stems largely from continued growth in scratch-off ticket sales, which range in price from $1 to $25 and are now available at more than 13,000 locations throughout the state.
Internet Café Crackdown: Gambling Task Force Serves Search Warrants in 5 Counties as Businesses Skirt Ban
The Legislature essentially banned such businesses last year, but some continue to operate under different guises. At one point at least seven of the gambling parlors had been operating in Palm Coast, but none in Flagler Beach or the unincorporated part of Flagler County.
Florida Lawmakers’ Bugsy Fixation
We have become a nation of people who sue each other and serve each other hamburgers. Are we also to become a nation of croupiers and cocktail waitresses? Sadly, that seems to be the message our politicians are delivering as they bet more of Florida’s future on gambling.
Gambling’s Odds in Florida May Be Left To a Constitutional Amendment in 2014
House Speaker Will Weatherford’s new plan–to let voters decide if they should weigh in on future expansion of gambling–could provide cover for Republican House members reluctant to expand gambling as the Legislature takes up the thorny issue during the upcoming session.
State Rakes In Cash From Seminole Casinos and Rethinks Gambling Landscape
Under the current deal with the Seminoles, which ends in 2015, the tribe makes the payments to the state in exchange for having the exclusive right to offer banked table games, such as blackjack, along with a monopoly on all slot locations outside of Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The Seminoles agreed to pay a minimum of $150 million in each of the first two years, $233 million in the third and fourth years and $234 million in 2015.
Giant Gambling Wish List and Seminole Compact on Florida Lawmakers’ Table
Slot machines, blackjack and roulette are back on the table as lawmakers prepare once again to tackle the high-stakes issue of gambling in a state that everyone agrees is already one of the industry’s biggest cash cows.
Florida Lottery Sets Record With $5 Billion In Sales as Gambling’s Attraction Grows
A little more than 62 percent of the money is paid out to winners, while $1.41 billion will go to the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund, though that hasn’t kept local school boards’ budgets from being cut. The voter-approved Lottery grew from $1.8 billion in sales in 1989, its first full year.
As Florida Bans Internet Cafés, Palm Coast’s Lingering Joints Place Last Bets on Eulogies
A FlaglerLive reporter, $50 in hand, made a tour of Palm Coast’s Internet cafes, only to find most of them closed already, and a mournful atmosphere at two that were open, not long before a bill banning the small gambling halls was sent to Gov. Rick Scott Thursday.
Les Jeux Sont Faits: Gov. Scott Will Sign Internet Cafe Ban
Gov. Rick Scott will sign legislation prohibiting the gaming at Internet cafés, his office said Thursday, following the Senate’s Senate’s 36-4 passage of a bill that flew through the Legislature spurred by an on-going racketeering investigation, and pushed by Sen. John Thrasher, who represents Flagler County.