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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Friday, January 18, 2002

ISLAND VOICES
Shipboard gambling is the only way to go

The issue of gambling in Hawai'i has once again become front and center and is getting serious attention in the Legislature. Therefore, if we must have gambling, let's do it right. Shipboard gambling is the right path for many reasons:

• The state would earn more with shipboard gambling than with land-based gambling. In addition to the gambling tax that both forms of gambling pay, shipboard gambling vessels would have to pay the state another 2.5 percent of their gross sales in 2002, increasing to 4 percent in 2005. This is because gambling vessels must have a state "commercial permit" in order to operate in Hawaiian waters. This means millions more to the state than would be paid by land-based casinos.

• If shipboard gambling turned out to be a mistake in Hawai'i, then all the state has to do is tell the owners of the gambling ships to take their ships elsewhere, and in a short time they would be gone. Closing the door on gambling would not be so easy with land-based casinos. Once they are built, they are in Hawai'i, most likely forever.

• With shipboard gambling, the gaudy casinos are on a gambling ship anchored or sailing well offshore. Unlike land-based casinos, shipboard gambling is not in our hotels and not in our communities. Thus, our lifestyle is preserved.

• Shipboard gambling ensures a "zero tolerance" for drugs. The U.S. Coast Guard would not permit drugs on board any vessels in Hawaiian waters. Also, the ship owners and operators must screen all personnel for drugs. Gambling operators would not risk the loss of their vessels to illicit drug use.

• Shipboard gambling means every job is a U.S. citizen's job. Federal law would ensure that all gambling vessels are owned and operated by U.S. citizens; not so with land-based casinos. This means real employment opportunities for Hawai'i's citizens.

• Gambling ships would be required to pay all of their taxes in full and on time. They have to do this in order to renew their annual commercial permit.

The citizens of Hawai'i who are concerned about Hawai'i's ability to regulate gambling will find comfort in the layers of control and oversight by the city, state and federal governments that are required for shipboard gambling.

Hawai'i has only one chance to do it right when it comes to gambling.