Disney bets USD20m to ensure Florida isn’t the next Vegas

A Florida ballot initiative this November would give voters the power to block any expansion of casino gambling, a move some argue would effectively crush gaming companies’ long and costly efforts to expand into the Sunshine State.

If approved, Amendment 3 of the Florida Constitution would require 60 percent state-wide support for any new casinos. That threshold would protect the local hegemony of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, which operates gambling establishments under federal law allowing Native Americans to do so, and entertainment giant Walt Disney Co. Together, Disney and the Seminoles have given about $36 million to bolster the measure.

“The Seminole Tribe of Florida is trying to buy a monopoly,” said Dan Adkins, who chairs Citizens for the Truth About Amendment 3, Inc., a political committee fighting the measure and funded by casinos and racetracks, among others. “Their arguments are all self serving.”

In fact, both sides’ arguments are muddied by the corporate interests funding their campaigns. Indeed, Adkins himself has a day job at the Hallandale Beach, Florida, Big Easy Casino, a recently renamed greyhound racing venue that offers gaming options it would love to expand. Other opponents include MGM Resorts International and the National Football League’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The football teams declined to comment on whether their opposition to the amendment had any connection to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in May that opened the door for states to legalize sports gambling within their borders.

The “yes” campaign has benefited significantly more from corporate money. Disney alone has spent $20 million supporting the initiative, compared with about $7 million total for Adkins’ committee and about $1 million for another opposition group, Vote NO on 3.

The efforts of Disney and its allies seem to be creating an advantage. In a Florida Chamber of Commerce poll conducted Sept. 19-24, 54 percent of respondents planned to vote “yes,” 28 percent planned to vote “no,” and 18 percent were undecided, with a 4.4 percentage point margin of error. The Florida Chamber supports the measure.

The vote is far from a foregone conclusion, though, because the measure itself needs 60 percent approval.

If successful, the measure would put up another obstacle for expanding gambling, requiring companies to actively campaign for 60 percent voter approval. That would in effect insulate Disney’s brand of Florida tourism, while the Seminole Tribe would maintain its gambling industry preeminence. Bloomberg