Miami Business Leaders Ponder Supporting Resort Casinos
Monday, December 5, 2011
By: Rick Stone

Dec. 5, 2011 | WMFE - In Miami Monday, there was another public forum on casino gambling...and political observers called it another three-way collision of hope, lobbying and skepticism. The event was aimed at helping Miami's Chamber of Commerce choose whether to support big resort casinos in South Florida.

The Chamber's voice could be loud and persuasive when the Florida Legislature votes next month on a casino-enabling bill that could authorize at least three multi-billion dollar casino complexes. Chamber president Barry Johnson says its position will be announced a week before the Legislature convenes. In the meantime, he says, fact-finding will be a priority.

"I think we want to hear all sides of the issue - the good, the bad and the ugly," Johnson says.

And political observers say there was some of each at Monday's forum that brought about 100 residents and business owners to a hotel ballroom in Miami's Omni area.

The good, says Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart, now a lobbyist for major gambling interest the Genting Group, is income. The casinos will "augment our economic development plan, they will create jobs but they are not going to change our brand," he told the forum.

The "brand" references a widespread concern that the presence of casinos would corrupt South Florida's image as a family-friendly tourism destination.

The bad, says self-described "disinterested citizen" Gloria Romero Rosas, came in the form of vague responses to her direct questions for gambling supporters. When she was asked if she received direct answers, she responded, "Not really. Not really."

Rosas said she wanted to remind lawmakers and the Chamber of additional concerns, like finding or creating jobs immediately for the unemployed. "When you have gambling taking up so much oxygen in the room, when are we ever gong to get where we aspire to be?"

And that leaves the ugly. Former Miami Dade County Commissioner Katy Sorensen said gambling may bring economic development and create jobs, but the casino business model should not be forgotten.

"Remember again how people make their money," she said. "They make it because of the losers. They make it because people have lost money and because families have even more problems once the gambling problems start."

Chamber President Johnson said his group would issue its recommendation on the first Wednesday in January after boiling it down to its binary state: Will gambling be a complement or a detriment to the community?