Mississippi Casino Bill in Blocked for Further Debate
The Mississippi bill allowing casinos to rebuild onshore came to a sudden halt prior to reaching the governor’s desk when the Mississippi Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman held the bill for further policy reconsiderations on Tuesday.
A controversial Mississippi bill to remove restrictions on Katrina-devastated casinos was held on Tuesday prior to reaching the governor for signing.
Though Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour had originally announced on Oct. 3 that he would sign into law the bill allowing casinos along Mississippi’s coast to build within 800 feet of water “soon after it hits his desk,” Mississippi Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jack Gordon kept the bill from reaching the governor the next day for further policy reconsiderations. Gordon reasoned that lawmakers should resolve the issue of whether dry land casinos should still pay tideland leases before submitting the bill to the governor.
“I’m not trying to kill gaming,” said Gordon to The Clarion-Ledger, a Mississippi-based newspaper. “I’m just trying to make sure we don’t give a real free ride on taxes.”
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In a 29-21 vote on Monday, the state senate passed the bill to allow casinos, previously prohibited by Mississippi law from building on land, to move 800 feet inland. The proposal of lifting the restriction and allowing casinos to build on land comes as a consequence of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, which damaged the $2.7 billion gambling industry in Mississippi after it hit the gulf coast on Aug. 29.
The bill has sparked debate among political and religious leaders.
“In a time of such distress and dire need when people are needing clothes, food, shelter, houses rebuilt, finding family members why would a state choose to rebuild a predatory industry,” questioned Chad Hills, Analyst Gambling Research for Focus on the Family.
“I liken it to pornography or legal drug sales. This industry produces no product. It simply is the transfer of money from the pocket of people into the pockets of casinos. It truly exposes the nature of the gambling industry,” he said.
“All they really care about is money – your money from your pocket into their pocket,” Hills continued. “And it is unbelievable that they are passing this legislation left and right.
“[The] state has become so dependent on gambling revenue.”
Christians from the Mississippi Baptist Convention, which makes up 25 percent of the state’s population, have also protested the moving of casinos to land, “arguing that they foster gambling addiction and do not help families” according to Reuters.
“The answer to our problems is not the gambling. The answer to our problem is not the politicians,” Tommy Truhett, a member of the First Baptist Church in Gulfport, told AP. “The Lord is the answer.”
Although supporters of the bill, such as House Gaming Chairman Bobby Moak, say the onshore issue is “not a religious issue” but “about 50,000 jobs and about people's lives,” opponents of the bill fear that permission for casinos to move onto dry land will soon extend to other rights and ultimately to the overall expansion of casinos in the state.
“They have 800 feet this year, but what about next year? What will they ask for next year?” commented Sen. Hillman Frazier, according to WAPT.
In giving an example of the casinos’ already expanding rights, American Family Association Chairman Don Wildmon noted that after the bill was passed, another casino bill was proposed.
“Immediately after the legislature gave the gamblers the right to expand their casinos to on-land buildings, even before the ink had dried on the bill, another bill was introduced that would lower the tidelands rent they paid the state,” said Wildmon to Agapepress.
Currently, Gordon and senators are debating whether casinos rebuilding on land still need to pay the tideland lease, which provides the state with about $7.5 million a year. Nine out of the thirteen Gulf Coast casinos currently pay tideland lease.
Until lawmakers can resolve the tideland lease issue, the bill permitting Mississippi casinos moving inland is temporarily postponed from being submitted to Gov. Barbour for approval.
