Why does it take a billionaire (or two) to stop lawmakers pushing casinos on Florida? | Opinion

It shouldn’t take a billionaire stepping in to make Florida lawmakers do what’s right.

And yet, that’s pretty clearly what just happened in Tallahassee.

A bill in the Florida Legislature that would have allowed a casino at the famed Miami Beach Fontainebleau hotel was headed for a vote in a Senate committee last week. It was moving forward despite decades-long, vociferous local and state opposition, complete with a state constitutional amendment specifying that only voters could make that decision.

And then, just like that, the legislation was declared unofficially dead last week. Even though Gov. Ron DeSantis — and this may be a shock to the system for DeSantis-dominated Florida — apparently wanted the bill to pass.

What’s behind the reversal of the bill? Let’s start with this: New Miami resident and hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin wrote a letter to the editor in the Miami Herald last week denouncing what he called “reckless legislation.”

The Citadel chief compared expanding casinos to “willingly dumping toxic waste into the Everglades.“ He followed up those strong words with a statement saying that the measure would “let the Legislature skirt the explicit will of the people.”

He wasn’t alone. A powerful group of South Florida business leaders also had planned a trip to Tallahassee to fight the measure. Miami Beach city officials had voted to accept use of a plane owned by yet another billionaire — Miami auto magnate Norman Braman — to fly more than 100 people to Tallahassee to oppose the idea in person at the hearing.

Braman and developer Armando Codina, who were both set to contribute funds for the trip, have been some of the strongest opponents of gambling expansion for years.

Weeks before that, Miami Beach Commissioner Alex Fernandez, in an opinion piece for the Miami Herald, also spoke out against the proposal. Miami Beach was already deeply concerned about public safety and quality of life; an expansion of gambling would only worsen those issues.

The legislation sought to allow the relocation of gambling facilities within the state through the transfer of gambling licenses, even in places “like ours where gambling activities are presently prohibited by law in all zoning districts throughout the city,” Fernandez wrote. In other words, the state was once again trying to bypass home rule.

But the Miami Beach delegation never even had to step foot on a plane. The legislation was pulled from the committee’s agenda.

It was a triumph of home rule over state intrusion, something we rarely see any more in Florida.

As we digest this strangely positive turn of events, a moment when the will of the people wasn’t trampled underfoot, let’s remember 2018. That’s when Floridians voted overwhelmingly across the state for a constitutional amendment that was supposed to keep the right to expand gambling in the hands of voters, not lawmakers.

Lawmakers seemed largely unperturbed by the idea of ignoring the state constitution — the amendment passed with a whopping 71% of the vote — until a billionaire (or two) stepped in.

Griffin, by the way, is a GOP mega donor. But Jeffrey Soffer, owner of the Fountainebleau, also has financial ties to the GOP — and also is a billionaire. He gave more than $300,000 last year to PACs that support legislators, including nine from Miami-Dade, and another $1 million to a super PAC that supported DeSantis’ presidential bid, according to the Miami Herald.

It took a billionaire to temper this desires of another billionaire, with Florida caught in the middle.

If we’ve learned anything about the perseverance of the gambling industry, it’s that they never give up. We have to assume this will be back in some form in 2025 or sooner. This year’s bill is not officially dead until the legislative session ends in March.

This is a win — for today. But what does it say about Florida that it takes a billionaire or two to stop lawmakers from ignoring the wishes of voters?

Click here to send the letter.