Casino backers prepare big push at Legislature

By Kevin Dayton and Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

Fortune may be finally smiling on gambling supporters in Hawai'i, the result of timing, shifting public attitudes and a more receptive atmosphere at the state Capitol.

With the state economy reeling in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, lawmakers say they expect an energetic new push at the Legislature next month to legalize some form of gambling, and even some opponents of casinos now say they are ready to listen.

Gambling proposals died quickly in the Legislature in recent years, largely because there was a rock-solid majority in the House opposed to legalized gambling. But gambling advocates have made unmistakable progress in the past year, largely as the result of the state's eroding tourism business.

Early this year Gov. Ben Cayetano, abandoned his long-standing opposition to gambling in Hawai'i and said he would support a licensing arrangement that allows a single casino to operate. Last week, he also said he would support legalizing gambling on inter-island cruise ships.

At least four companies involved in gambling hired lobbyists to work the halls of the state Capitol this year, and together they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising, polling and entertaining legislators.

Gambling opponents in the House said they remain confident any gambling push will fail next year, but momentum for legalization is clearly building.

"I think they're going to start unveiling a very expansive multi-media campaign and blitz to raise the issue in the community and put the heat on the Legislature to look at any kind of gaming proposal," said House Majority Leader Marcus Oshiro. "I think probably the focus will be on the loss of jobs since 9-11, and the jobs created by a land-based casino, and also construction jobs that would come in."

Hawai'i is one of only three states with no legalized gambling. The others are Utah and Tennessee.

Influencial supporters

Gambling already has some influential supporters in Hawai'i. Senate President Robert Bunda said he favors granting several licenses for casino gambling, and wants to put the issue before the voters as a ballot question.

People at the Capitol say they have been told that former Supreme Court Associate Justice Robert Klein has agreed to go to work for the pro-gambling group called Coalition for Economic Diversity. Klein is a respected Native Hawaiian leader and his work on behalf of gambling would lend stature and credibility to the coalition. He did not return phones calls to The Advertiser.

Jim Boersema, spokesman for the coalition, said he has met with Klein to discuss gambling but that Klein is "not committed in any manner whatsoever. Will that change in three months? Who knows."

Boersema said Klein is "one of a hundred" influential community leaders he has met with to discuss the coalition's proposal for a high-end, resort-based casino in Ko Olina in West O'ahu.

The coalition, which is largely bankrolled by resort and casino developer Sun International, wants limited gambling in Hawai'i to provide jobs and make the tourism market more competitive, Boersema said.

"Hawai'i has suffered long enough, so let's try something," he said. "We think gambling in Hawai'i is inevitable, and the only question is what kind it will be. Everyone here is thinking Vegas, but this is very different. It's hard to get that past people whose only experience is Las Vegas."

Critics more wary

Critics such as Dorothy Bobilin, president of the Hawai'i Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, point to the social costs of gambling. Coalition literature notes Nevada has the highest divorce and suicide rates in the nation, and there are more than 15 million "problem gamblers" in the United States.

Bobilin said many gambling addicts steal to support their addiction, and cited police testimony that legal gambling likely will not cut down on illegal gambling: Gamblers will still frequent illegal games to avoid paying taxes.

The coalition is made up of 45 churches, political groups and other organizations opposed to gambling.

With the state economy suffering, even some self-described "knee-jerk" gambling opponents said they are reconsidering the issue. Republican Rep. Bob McDermott, who said he always voted against gambling on moral grounds, said he is ready to listen now because of the skyrocketing unemployment rate since Sept. 11 and the fact so many are being hurt by the recession.

McDermott, 32nd ('Aiea-Salt Lake-Aliamanu) said he hasn't seen a new idea for economic development emerge from the Legislature in his five years there. With the state economy so weak, McDermott said the promise of new jobs from gambling "gives me pause."

19,000 new jobs

The gambling lobby contends that if the state will allow two casinos to open, those operations will generate 19,000 direct and indirect new jobs and $67 million a year in new tax revenue.

"Before we could go along and say we're not in that desperate shape, but now ... we need to look at something, so I think that has probably prompted the lobbyists to be more active," McDermott said.

McDermott said he remains undecided, but his willingness to take a "fresh look" at gambling is significant.

Eighteen of the 19 House Republicans have said in surveys conducted by The Advertiser that they oppose casino gambling, shipboard gambling and a lottery, and their opposition has become a critical piece of the wall that blocks gambling.

With 18 "no" votes in hand on any gambling proposal, gambling opponents need to convince only eight Democrats to vote against any gambling initiative to kill it.

The wild card next year may be a proposal to simply let the voters decide, an idea Cayetano and others have discussed.

Let voters decide

Cayetano favors a constitutional amendment to legalize gambling as a way to finally resolve the issue, but others have suggested a nonbinding question could be placed on the 2002 ballot to allow the voters to express their sentiment directly on the gambling issue.

That worries Bobilin, who is concerned that the grassroots gambling opponents will be outspent and overwhelmed in a ballot issue.

But many elected Republicans like the idea of letting voters directly weigh in on issues by placing questions on the ballot, and might want to put the issue out for a vote by the public, Bobilin said.

House Majority Whip Nestor Garcia predicted gambling proponents will use a ballot question as "a wedge" to advance the issue. Garcia said he opposes lottery, casino and shipboard gambling, but would vote to put the issue on the ballot as a non-binding question.

Rep. Barbara Marumoto, R-17th (Kahala-Wai'alae Iki), is a gambling opponent who worries about the costs of gambling, such as gambling addiction, the potential for increased crime and the possibility that a casino would hurt small businesses around it. But she said she is torn over the possibility of putting the issue on the ballot.

"I kind of feel that issues can be put before the voters, I think it's their right to have a say in the matter," said Marumoto. "But as a person who has opposed gambling in the past, I'm a little apprehensive that it might pass."

Lobbyists hired

To add to the pro-gambling pressure, a group of investors from Detroit who hope to open two casinos on O'ahu has hired a public relations firm and lobbyists. They have begun gathering thousands of petition signatures, which they say will demonstrate growing support for legalized gambling.

Tom Shields, spokesman for the investors, declined to say how many signatures have been gathered, but said it is "a significant number."

All of this worries volunteer lobbyist Bobilin as she looks ahead to the session of the Legislature that begins Jan. 16. "I think we would have won a year ago. It's up in the air whether we will win this one," she said.

Oshiro, D-40th (Wahiawa-Whitmore) said he still doubts the effort to legalize gambling will succeed this year, but won't rule it out.

"At this time I don't see any movement until we begin to hear what I call the new arguments in light of what's going on," Oshiro said. "What I've been telling people is that inasmuch as 9-11 changed the world, I think it will probably change the way a lot of us look at this gaming issue now."

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.