Gov. Jeb Bush is blasting the campaign for slot machines in South Florida for seducing voters with a ''hollow
promise'' for better schools, and warning of an ``industry-led drive toward Las Vegas-style casino
development.''
In his starkest terms yet, Bush, a staunch gambling opponent, wrote in a letter to the Christian Coalition of
South Florida that passing the March 8 referendum in Broward and Miami-Dade counties would create a
''snowball effect,'' leading to casinos across the state.
Gambling opponents are seizing on the letter from the state's chief executive -- who has the power to veto
any legislation regulating the slot machines -- as a weapon against the industry-financed campaign that wants
to bring slots to seven racetracks and jai-alai frontons in the two counties.
''We're sending this letter around to the churches, faxing it and e-mailing it and talking about it,'' David
Zachary, operations director for the coalition, said Thursday. ``We're showing people that we have the
governor on our side.''
Bush's office did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
In the letter, Bush wrote that adding slots to the parimutuels would force him to negotiate with two Florida
Indian tribes who already operate casinos in the state. The tribes claim the right under federal law to operate
any sort of gambling that the state allows.
The parimutuels would then look to top the Indian casinos -- which don't have to pay state taxes, Bush noted.
'Thus we are likely to hear from the parimutuel industry that they need more slots, bigger casinos and more
locations to `compete' in the near future against the native American tribes,'' the governor wrote.
The governor's former education commissioner, Jim Horne, who has been hired by the coalition of horse and
dog tracks and jai-alai frontons, said he's more ''pragmatic'' about the issue than his former boss.
''Gambling is here and as long as it is, we ought to get something for it,'' Horne said.
Parimutuel operators point to the proliferation of the Indian casinos and ''cruises to nowhere'' that pay little
or no state taxes and argue that state-regulated and taxed slot machines could mean a $500 million boon for
schools.
But in the letter, Bush called the promises ''speculative'' and cited studies that found that casino gambling
cannibalized other businesses and led to increased crime and higher unemployment rates.
Though voters are being asked to approve a major expansion of gambling, he wrote, ``details are elusive.''
If voters approve the slots initiative, the Florida Legislature would have until July 1 to write regulations
governing the machines. Bush, who could veto that legislation, has said his approval would be contingent upon
having safeguards for problem gamblers, money to offset the cost of growth, and guarantees that the facilities
won't sell out to buyers who would bulldoze the tracks to build casinos.
Bush may have a more immediate way to exert control: His Secretary of State, Glenda Hood, has been asked
to investigate the industry's involvement in financing the March 8 elections.
The industry has pledged money to the counties to pay for some of the expected costs of gambling, which will
indirectly cover the cost of the special election -- a practice that's ''impermissible under state and local law,''
said Rep. Randy Johnson, an Orlando-area Republican who sought the investigation.
Slots attorney Lori Weems said the industry is not financing the election -- but paying the counties for
expected costs like road building.
''The agreement was not a quid pro quo for the election, it was to get the county comfortable to move forward
with the issue,'' Weems said.