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Beacon Council Hosts Panel Discussions On Destination Resort Casinos

MIAMI (CBS4 - Will South Florida roll the dice on large mega-resort destination casinos?

That was the question before hundreds of community leaders today in downtown Miami.

And as CBS4's Stephen Stock it is not an academic or trivial question but one that could change every resident's life if a proposal to build one of the world's largest casinos in downtown Miami gets approval.

The proposal to build a huge destination resort casino on the old Miami Herald property looks pretty to many people. But the debate now taking place among top community leaders has become a bit uglier.

"You all would be kind of the first and be the guinea pig here," said John Sowinski, President of "No Casinos" at an all-day seminar called "Gambling on Miami" held at Miami-Dade College on Monday.

The Beacon Council sponsored this all-day give and take on the gambling issue to air much of that debate and to explore questions surrounding whether to even allow destination resort casino gambling anywhere in the state.

"We've heard a lot of heat. We want to shed some light," said Beacon Council President and CEO. "We've brought in proponents those for and against."

One the one side of the debate were representatives from the large casino companies that want to build in South Florida including Sands Casino out of Las Vegas.

"We see it as an opportunity to build our version of an integrated resort," said Andrew Abboud, Last Vegas Sands Corporation Vice President. "And it's based on a convention and trade show model."

Also on the side pushing this proposal and state legislation that would make it possible was the president of Resorts World Miami, or the Genting Group, the mega international corporation that wants to build this huge resort where the Miami Herald currently resides.

"We want to be part of what's going on here (in Miami)," said Resorts World Miami's President Christian Goode.

CBS4's Stephen Stock asked Goode: "You talk jobs, jobs and jobs. That seems to be the real controversy; the 100,000 jobs figure that Genting is promising will be created if the casino resort is built here. There are a lot of people that don't buy that figure that say that's over estimating, it's over-promising."

"Does it really matter? I think it could be low," said Goode. "At the end of the day this is a significant investment of a minimum of $6 Billion (which would come if three separate resort destination casinos locate here) is going to bring a hundred thousand jobs."

On the other side are opponents who worry about the long term effects on the community. And these critics say that the casino's promises of jobs, jobs, jobs are empty ones.

Among the critics at the seminar was University of Illinois researcher John Kindt who has written a book on the effects of the gambling industry on American communities.

"You can't gamble your way to prosperity," said Kindt. "This economic emperor of gambling is wearing no clothes. If it would work I would love to say it would work. My colleagues and I would make a lot of money if we would say it would work.

"It's lost jobs, lost jobs, lost jobs to the consumer economy," said Kindt pointing to several long-term economic studies on resort casino gambling. "The definitive academic research shows that when you bring these gambling facilities take away from what you already have. This is about siphoning away the local tourists that are already here and already exist."

"You're going to have some construction jobs," Kindt said. "Each slot machine is actually taking one job per year every year out of the economy. Slot machines don't create jobs. All you do is dust them off and collect the money. That's 90% of the money that's going into the modern casino today."

"It's an assault on our quality life as a community," said local businessman and entrepreneur Norman Braman. "Statistics don't lie. If you look at all the other communities they can't name one community in the United States that this has benefited in three years."

As chairman of Art Basel, Braman also predicted that if these huge casinos locate here, Art Basel will likely leave.

"I think Art Basel would leave eventually. They're just not compatible," said Braman.

This is not a trivial issue for either leaders or many living in this community.

As former Governor and Senator Bob Graham put it at the conference, "Whatever is decided about destination resort casino gambling will change the face not just of South Florida but of the entire state (of Florida) for generations to come."

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