{"id":56691,"date":"2017-08-15T16:00:41","date_gmt":"2017-08-15T23:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=56691"},"modified":"2017-08-15T13:50:55","modified_gmt":"2017-08-15T20:50:55","slug":"disney-ups-spend-to-defeat-casino-expansion-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/disney-ups-spend-to-defeat-casino-expansion-in-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney Ups Spend to Defeat Casino Expansion in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Disney donated $500,000 to a campaign opposing casino expansion in Florida last month, according to the state\u2019s Division of Elections website.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_56729\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-56729\" data-style=\"width: 980px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-56729\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/disneyworld-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Disney increases financing of anti-gambling expansion committee\" width=\"980\" height=\"735\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/disneyworld.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/disneyworld-142x107.jpg 142w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/disneyworld-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 980px) 100vw, 980px\" \/><figcaption  id=\"caption-attachment-56729\"class=\"text-description\">Disneyworld Orlando is one of the world\u2019s most visited attractions and The Walt Disney Company is the most powerful mover in Florida\u2019s tourism sector. But is its position on gambling ethical or merely protectionist? (Image: Walt Disney Company)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The beneficiary of the windfall, political action committee \u201cVoters in Charge,\u201d is pushing to pass a constitutional amendment that would give Florida voters the &#8220;exclusive right to decide whether to authorize casino gambling.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The campaign is spearheading the Voter Control of Gambling Amendment which seeks to curtail the power of Tallahassee politicians and gambling lobbyists to pass legislation that would increase casino gambling opportunities in the Sunshine State.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is time to restore the time-honored standard of requiring voter approval for any casino-style gambling,\u201d it declares on its website.<\/p>\n<p>Last month\u2019s donation brings the total the Walt Disney Company has spent supporting Voters in Charge to $1.15 million since April.<\/p>\n<p>The committee requires 766,200 valid petition signatures for its cause to be added to the ballot in November 2018. To date, it has submitted 151,476, according to the Division of Elections site.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Morality or Protectionism? <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/walt-disney-company-lobbying-against-gaming-expansion-in-florida\/\">Disneyworld<\/a> in Orlando is the world\u2019s eighth-most visited tourist attraction, with 17.5 million visitors per year (the Las Vegas Strip, ironically, is the first), which makes Disney a powerhouse in Florida, holding sway over the state\u2019s tourism industry, and it wants to keep it that way.<\/p>\n<p>It is especially reluctant to countenance the kind of competition it believes is at odds with its family-friendly ethos, like casino gambling.<\/p>\n<p>But this anti-gambling stance has, in the past, led to accusations of hypocrisy, since Disney owns the rights to franchises like Star Wars and Marvel, which have been heavily licensed over the years as slots and gambling machines.<\/p>\n<p>In 2013, at a time when LVS boss Sheldon Adelson was lobbying heavily to build a resort in Florida, LVS COO Mike Leven suggested Disney\u2019s position was one of pure anti-competition and protectionism dishonestly dressed up as a moral standpoint.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\"><p><strong>\u201cDisney\u2019s internecine warfare against integrated resorts in Florida under this pretence demeans them significantly,\u201d he said.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2><strong>Phasing Out of Marvel and Star Wars Slots<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The entertainment giant evidently took note because it quickly announced it would begin phasing out Star Wars and Marvel-themed slots and would refrain from renewing any such licensing deals once the existing ones expire.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/florida-gambling-expansion-negotiations-underway-house-prepared-compromise\">Florida legislators attempted to pass a wide-ranging gambling reform package<\/a> that would, among other things, have expanded slots throughout the state, but the pro-expansion Senate failed to find a workable compromise with the more conservative House.<\/p>\n<p>As well as contending with the Walt Disney Company, pro-expansion lawmakers face opposition from the powerful Seminole tribe, which enjoys a monopoly on casino gambling through its chain of Hard Rock casinos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Disney donated $500,000 to a campaign opposing casino expansion in Florida last month, according to the state\u2019s Division of Elections website. The beneficiary of the windfall, political action committee \u201cVoters in Charge,\u201d is pushing to pass a constitutional amendment that would give Florida voters the &#8220;exclusive right to decide whether to authorize casino gambling.&#8221; The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":56729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,3313,13],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Disney Ups Spend to Defeat Casino Expansion in Florida<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Walt Disney Company has increased its funding of Voters in Charge, which seeks to limit gambling expansion in Florida.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Disney Ups Spend to Defeat Casino Expansion in Florida\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Walt Disney Company has increased its funding of Voters in Charge, which seeks to limit gambling expansion in Florida.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/disney-ups-spend-to-defeat-casino-expansion-in-florida\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-15T23:00:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-08-15T20:50:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/disneyworld.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/disney-ups-spend-to-defeat-casino-expansion-in-florida\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/disney-ups-spend-to-defeat-casino-expansion-in-florida\/\",\"name\":\"Disney Ups Spend to Defeat Casino Expansion in Florida\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/disney-ups-spend-to-defeat-casino-expansion-in-florida\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/disney-ups-spend-to-defeat-casino-expansion-in-florida\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/disneyworld.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-15T23:00:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-08-15T20:50:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"The Walt Disney Company has increased its funding of Voters in Charge, which seeks to limit gambling expansion in Florida.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/disney-ups-spend-to-defeat-casino-expansion-in-florida\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/disney-ups-spend-to-defeat-casino-expansion-in-florida\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/disney-ups-spend-to-defeat-casino-expansion-in-florida\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/disneyworld.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/disneyworld.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":768,\"caption\":\"Disneyworld Orlando is one of the world\u2019s most visited attractions and The Walt Disney Company is the most powerful mover in Florida\u2019s tourism sector. 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