Bill Day’s latest: A take on gambling addiction

Untitled

Florida lawmakers are taking up the possibility of gambling reform once again in the newly launched 2015 Legislative Session.

In honor of that 60-day road ahead, editorial cartoonist Bill Day offers his take on one of the most contentious issues in state politics.

“While I’m not against gambling, in general,” Day says, “the great danger is addiction and how it drains the middle class and poor.”

As an example, Day uses the city of Detroit, which approved casino gambling in 1996 and built three casinos during the next few years: MGM Grand, Greektown, and MotorCity. He says the intention was to keep residents from spending money at casinos across the border in Windsor, Canada.

In 2009, Detroit leaders pledged casino revenue as collateral for a deal with banks, to secure lower interest rates, which eventually failed.

Ultimately, Day says, it was a financial disaster, and he watched as unemployment and crime soared. Detroit residents now use casinos as a way to make money from casinos designed primarily to create a constant revenue stream from outside the region.

However, casinos increasingly are becoming a way for low-income residents to earn just enough money to survive.

“Casinos all over, from Atlantic City to Las Vegas, are beginning to close their doors because of the social destruction they have caused,” he says. “Gambling addiction is a scourge.”

Day concludes that gambling “should be legal for those who can afford their losses.” In this case, he uses his talents to address the issue of gambling addiction, something Day feels “destroys economies, families, relationships, and marriages.”

Untitled

Phil Ammann

Phil Ammann is a Tampa Bay-area journalist, editor and writer. With more than three decades of writing, editing, reporting and management experience, Phil produced content for both print and online, in addition to founding several specialty websites, including HRNewsDaily.com. His broad range includes covering news, local government, entertainment reviews, marketing and an advice column. Phil has served as editor and production manager for Extensive Enterprises Media since 2013 and lives in Tampa with his wife, visual artist Margaret Juul. He can be reached on Twitter @PhilAmmann or at [email protected].



#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, Anne Geggis, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Gray Rohrer, Jesse Scheckner, Christine Sexton, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704




Sign up for Sunburn


Categories