"Florida is on the cusp of becoming the Disney World of gambling.

Uh, make that gaming -- sounds a little more Disney-like.

This is the vision of state Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, a Fort Lauderdale Republican and co-sponsor of a bill to allow three multi-billion-dollar "destination resort casinos" in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

"Basically, we could become the Disney of gaming," Bogdanoff said to the Naples Daily News. "Disney was built here and brings in tourists from around the world. Gaming can do the same thing."

Bogdanoff and other lawmakers who want to expand gambling have entered the Magic Kingdom. They're looking at a down economy and another lean state budget and imagining that there is a politically painless solution to these problems. And whenever public officials start looking for an easy way out of their budget dilemmas, the nation's massive and hugely profitable gambling industry is there with an answer."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Lawmakers escape into gambling fantasyland (The Daytona Beach News-Journal 10/9)

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