Blackjack addiction on rise in Florida
By Michael Vasquez
Š 2009 Miami Herald
Sunday, February 22, 2009

The debut of legal blackjack in Florida last year was all glitz and glamour -- with the Seminole Tribe's Hard Rock casino near Hollywood packed with celebrities like entertainer Carmen Electra in a spangly blue dress.

But a growing number of people calling the state's gambling help line have found their lives ruined by the high-stakes card game. Only a year ago, poker was the main vice of those addicted to playing cards.

Now, after seven or so months, blackjack has nearly pulled even with poker as the game reported as addicting by help-line callers.

And when average Floridians stung by the sour economy turn to gaming, they're not getting the guaranteed tax revenues state government might enjoy. At times they're finding disaster, said Pat Fowler, head of the state's compulsive gambling council.

Some help-line callers, she said, ``thought they could make enough money to pay their mortgage payment, or to pay their rent . . . They saw it as a possibility of funding those shortfalls. Of course, that doesn't make sense, because certainly one has to know you're more apt to lose when you gamble than win.''

In January, 43 percent of the card players seeking help for addiction cited blackjack as their game. A year earlier, only 9 percent identified themselves as blackjack players, with the rest blaming poker for their problem.

Overall, calls to the state's help line -- 888-ADMIT-IT -- are steadily rising, with January's 275 calls up about 16 percent from a year earlier. Nearly one call a day now is from a blackjack player. More than half the total calls for help originate from South Florida -- the hub of the state's casino industry.

''Do I think that the advent of more games creates a higher percentage of problem gambling? Absolutely,'' said Rick Benson, director of Algamus Recovery Centers, which treats problem gamblers at facilities in both Palm Beach County and Prescott, Ariz.

PLAYER PROFILE

At The Miami Herald's request, the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling -- which runs the state's gambling help line -- provided a profile of its callers for two recent six-month periods.

The figures showed slot machines as the most commonly reported gambling problem, but with card games catching up. The percentage of callers citing card games rose from 21 percent in the first six-month period to 34 percent in the later period. Self-identified slots players dipped from 50 percent to 44 percent.

Other statistics, some of them sobering, stayed about the same. A little more than 60 percent of the callers were men, and the average debt reported by callers ranged between $54,000 and $60,000. About a third of callers said they'd committed some sort of crime, such as fraud, embezzlement or theft.

GUILT AND SHAME

Molly, a Gamblers Anonymous member who has stayed away from casinos for close to 12 years, said the rush she felt from heading to the slot machines was ''better than sex'' -- until she found herself stealing from her own son.

''The shame and the guilt that I suffered was certainly not worth it at all,'' she said.

John Fontana, president of the Seminole Tribe's Tampa casino, is also heavily involved in the issue of gambling addiction -- he's a board member on the state's compulsive gambling council.

Fontana said stepped-up advertising for the help line gets some credit for its increased volume, but he didn't dispute that as gaming in Florida becomes more accessible -- and more people become players -- there will be more for whom addiction becomes a problem.

Fontana argued that gambling addiction would exist even if the Seminoles' casino empire did not. From the lottery to charitable bingo games to illegal sports bets, there are plenty of ways for those fixated on gambling to find what they're looking for, Fontana said.

The Seminole Tribe, he noted, has taken various measures to help problem gamblers -- from referring people to the phone help line to last year donating $300,000 to pay for gambling addiction treatment.

Only casinos operated by the Seminole Tribe currently offer blackjack. After inaugurating the game at its signature casino near Hollywood, the tribe also added it to some, but not all, of its six other casinos spread across the state.

South Florida's parimutuels -- horse tracks, jai-alai frontons and the like -- are also pushing to add blackjack to their gambling offerings, arguing that allowing only the Seminoles to have the game gives the tribe an unfair advantage.

Florida's lawmakers are working to close a budget shortfall that may be as large as $700 million. This has made the normally anti-gambling Legislature more receptive to the addition of new games -- provided the casinos pay handily for them.

''The window of opportunity is now,'' Miami state Rep. Julio Robaina said of the parimutuels' lobbying push.

Robaina, who supports loosening the state's rules, acknowledged games like blackjack ``are fast paced. Money goes very quickly.''

Don't Let Gambling Conquer State
Editorial Department
Š2009 The Tampa Tribune
Sunday, February 22, 2009

It's unfortunate Gov. Charlie Crist didn't possess the steely resolve of former governors Lawton Chiles and Jeb Bush when it came to combating efforts by the Seminole Tribe to turn Florida into a casino-gambling state.

Crist overstepped his authority in 2007 by negotiating a compact with the tribe in exchange for guarantees of tens of millions of dollars a year without legislative approval, and the Florida Supreme Court scrapped the deal.

Now, Seminole casinos have become mini-Las Vegases - including the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa - and the state's parimutuel industry is demanding a level playing field.

The question now before the Legislature is whether the state should ratify the compact Crist negotiated with the Seminoles, limiting blackjack and other high-stakes card games to tribe facilities, or open up more of the state to games not legally available elsewhere.

The answer should be clear: The expanded gambling Crist allowed now is established at the Seminole facilities and sanctioned by the federal government. There is no undoing the damage. The state should approve the compact and let the pari-mutuels, which already offer lesser forms of gambling, fend for themselves.

Florida already has too much gambling - Seminole casinos, pari-mutuels, gaming boats that cruise into international waters and, of course, the state-run lottery, which recently added Powerball.

These games prey largely on the vulnerable, those looking to solve all their problems by throwing money away in search of the big score. It is a societal ill that is threatening Florida's family-oriented, progressive image and sweeping the nation as states in financial crisis look for more revenue.

The compact Crist negotiated with the Seminoles at least would guarantee Florida would receive millions of dollars a year in exchange for allowing card games that would remain illegal elsewhere in the state. Crist and lawmakers are at a clear disadvantage because federal law grants the Seminoles special protections. Florida is unlikely to be able to force the tribe to accept pre-compact restrictions.

Under the 25-year deal, the state would receive $50 million immediately and another $175 million over the first two years. After that, the tribe would pay the state at least $100 million a year. The tribe even upped the ante earlier this month by pledging $288 million right away if the compact were approved.

Unquestionably, these payments would help ease the state's financial woes as lawmakers grapple with a $5 billion budget deficit and future economic uncertainty.

Further, it's highly possible that the state wouldn't receive a cent while the Seminoles offered their Vegas-style slots, blackjack and other games. Lawmakers should not allow that to happen.

Federal officials had notified the state that they were going to allow expanded Seminole gaming - with no state revenue requirements - in 2007. That's when Crist took it upon himself to negotiate a deal, which federal officials signed off on early last year even while a lawsuit the state House filed challenging it was pending.

Chiles successfully fought the Tribe in and outside court for years. Bush picked up the battle and was able to fend off increased gaming after federal officials said they were going to allow it 2001 and 2006. Crist was too eager to strike a deal when federal officials issued the 2007 deadline.

The tribe continues to offer the games - flaunting them, even, on billboards and in other advertisements - despite the state Supreme Court's ruling. Federal officials deserve blame as well for not respecting the ruling.

Still, lawmakers would be foolish not to approve the compact, given federal officials' apparent unwillingness to step in and stop the games.

The hankering by pari-mutuels to get in on the action is another issue - one they created with the help of voters who gave their blessing to slot machines at pari-mutuels in Broward and Miami-Dade counties in 2004. This, it should be stressed, gave Seminoles cause to increase their offerings.

Pari-mutuels complain expanded Seminole gaming is hurting them, but lawmakers should not buckle to industry pressure. Offering more gambling at these facilities would only encourage more people to throw away money that could be put into the economy.

The industry will have to find a way to adjust on its own.

The bottom line is that gambling once again has expanded in Florida, which is unfortunate considering its destructive effect on individuals and communities. The state has lost this time, but it should be developing a strong defense for the next fight. Because it's a safe bet the gambling industry will continue its effort to conquer the Sunshine State.