My Word: More gambling morally wrong

By Lawton "Bud" Chiles III
Copyright © 2009, Orlando Sentinel
Thursday, September 10, 2009

The recent gambling deal orchestrated by Gov. Charlie Crist is morally wrong and will not make a brighter future for Florida's children.

During a visit last spring to a Miami grade school, Crist promoted gambling as a solution to our education crises, telling the media there that it would put more money into education. At least one parent was skeptical of such talk, saying gambling isn't good for society. The skeptics are right. My father and several governors before him fought the gambling interests knowing that gambling brings far more problems than its money solves.

Gambling money is stained, and it's not the solution to improving our children's lives and our state's future. It's stained with the misplaced hopes of far too many hard-working Floridians. It's stained by organized crime and racketeering, and all the illegal behavior that comes along with gambling. Personal bankruptcy rates increase in counties that have gambling. Gambling brings an increase in crime, including theft and prostitution. Just look at Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Reno — do we want their crime, prostitution and drug problems?

Why would Florida, with its wonderful tourism assets, want to cloud all this beauty that God has given us with gambling parlors across the state?

I, for one, am sick to death of the kind of promises that have been made to the people of Florida: Gambling will improve education. We have heard this before. Remember the promises about the Florida Lottery? We didn't improve education; we only shuffled some money around, and the politicians in Tallahassee actually cut state funding for education. Today we have the lottery and a high-school dropout rate among the worst in the nation.

Remember the promises about the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund? That was promised to be a permanent source of money for our children and seniors, using the money we won from Big Tobacco. Instead, it became a piggy bank for the politicians in Tallahassee to raid as soon as it was politically convenient. More broken promises, and we still have one of the highest rates of uninsured children in the nation.

Today, Florida is a state with a sinking economy, nearly a million without jobs and a broken budget. Gambling won't solve our problems. I pray the Legislature will stand up and say no to this gambling deal. I hope that the people of Florida will raise their voices against this immoral and foolish approach. We have real problems, and if the people of Florida get engaged, we can solve them.

In a gambling state, the house always wins, and the people always lose. Is that any way to teach our children?

Lawton "Bud" Chiles III is president of The Lawton Chiles Foundation and director of the Worst To First initiative, a group working to improve investments in Florida's children.