Legal gambling picture still far from clear

Columbus is, very tentatively, back in the Georgia casino picture. But that picture is a long-range shot with nothing completely in focus.

Chief sponsor of the proposed legislation that would put Columbus back in play is not a member of the local delegation, but a lawmaker from suburban Atlanta – Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta. In an informal Tuesday presentation to the Regulated Industries and Utilities Committee (no voting — just talk), Beach proposed lower population limits for casinos than those previously indicated, which would have left only Atlanta and Savannah eligible. Rep. Calvin Smyre, D-Columbus, is a co-sponsor of corresponding House legislation, and Sen. Ed Harbison, D-Columbus, is a co-sponsor of the Senate bill.

One of the most powerful selling points of casinos, aside from the tourism aspects, is the prospect of millions more for education and human services needs. The current plan would require that 50 percent of state revenue go to the achievement-based HOPE scholarship program, 30 percent to needs-based scholarships and the remaining 20 percent to rural health care — an area in which Georgia is struggling with a long-term crisis.

A formidable obstacle, even if there were no other objections (and there are more than a few), is up-front cost. The estimated initial investment for the kind of “resort” casino that gambling proponents say they want to attract would be a whopping $2 billion in Atlanta, and about $450 million in Savannah. Smyre said he would like to see a “third tier” for Columbus and other cities, at a cost of some $200-250 million. But even that lower tier is hardly chump change.

Beach and others who support casino legislation reason that making these resort-type operations expensive to start up will limit their number: “I don’t think we want slot machines and casinos in every corner of the state,” Beach said. Indeed, even the most enthusiastic proponents of casino gambling in Georgia probably don’t envision another Nevada, with a row of one-arm bandits in every truck stop, diner and convenience store.

Casino advocates were hardly the only participants in the Tuesday public discussion. More than three dozen Baptist ministers were also on hand, to express moral opposition. The Georgia Baptist Mission represents some 1.3 million Georgians and 3,600 churches. That’s not a negligible constituency.

“We are concerned this issue of money is being put over morality, and the end justifies the means,” said the organization’s spokesman Mike Griffin. “... like 30 pieces of silver to everybody to buy them off.” That’s not a negligible argument.

(Nor, needless to say, is gambling the only political issue in which money can triumph over morality.)

Griffin said the bill should be scuttled before it even gets to the floor: “The fact that we are going to let the people decide, that always seems to be the easy out.”

Well, not really. It’s a democratic and constitutional process. (This newspaper editorially opposed the Georgia lottery … by urging voters to vote against it.)

And this process would be anything but easy. If the bills get approved in committee, they would still have to be passed by both the House and Senate, and signed by the governor. There would then have to be separate legislation setting up a public vote — the first one. If casino gambling should be approved by the state’s voters as a whole, then any jurisdiction (like Columbus) that wants a casino will have to hold its own vote.

That doesn’t even touch on the hundreds of millions needed just to get started.

This story was originally published February 11, 2017 at 4:48 PM with the headline "Legal gambling picture still far from clear."