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Hawaii: Still No Gambling Zone

Posted on May 3rd, 2011

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Over the years, the expansion of companies engaged in the establishment of resort-casinos has continued to rise. Like mushrooms, casinos are now operating and continuously being developed in almost all of the states in the United States of America. Moreover, gambling nowadays is not limited to only land-based casinos, but also includes the online platform. Recently, some of the states in the US have even allowed or considered allowing legalized and regulated forms of online gambling, which of course entails some limitations and restrictions. Nonetheless, it is indeed a fact that these two kinds of gambling have triumphed over the more traditional form of legislation which prohibited them in the first place.

However, there are still two states left which restrict any form of gambling within their jurisdiction. These states, specifically Hawaii and Utah, are yet to enforce legislation which will facilitate the establishment of a gambling site in their areas. It is not that there have been no efforts to legalize gambling in these states; in fact, there have been a lot of campaigns done to advocate for legalized gambling in the said states. It is just that the legislators of these states have not yet been convinced of the actual need to establish casinos in their jurisdiction. The latest news concerning gambling in Hawaii is the propagation of Senate Bill 1247. This is not the first Senate Bill which attempted to legalize gambling in Hawaii. It is but one of the numerous bills which were thrown directly in to the trash bin after Hawaii’s House of Representatives rejected it.

Notably, there were two bills that had similar provisions to the latest Senate Bill 1247: Senate Bill 1097 and House Bill 781. The Senate Bill 1097 would have permitted one casino in the Waikiki district for a period of ten years after agreeing to pay the State a tax of 6.75% based on the casinos gross receipts. The House Bill, on the other hand, had almost the same content with the Senate Bill 1097 with the exception of the increased taxation percentage of 15% on the gross receipts of the sole casino’s earnings. Senate Bill 1247, the most recent bill that was rejected, was not at all any bill regarding gambling when it was originally proposed. Entitled as “Aloha Tower Development Corporation; Repeal; Appropriation.”, Senate Bill 1247 was in reference to the change of management at the Aloha Tower Market Place. On this original proposal, it stated that the Aloha Tower Development Corporation will be abolished while its assets will be transferred to the Hawaii Community Development Authority. However, during the last hours prior to the actual hearing of the said bill, its proponents altered the contents of the bill in order to allow the establishment of a single casino in the State of Hawaii. The Bill expressly provides that should a casino be allowed in Waikiki, it must first pay a license issuance fee of $150 million dollars in either cash or its equivalent. Moreover, it would adhere to the same taxation percentage of gross receipts as the Senate Bill 1097, thus charging 15% on the total gross receipts of the casino.

What made this Senate Bill 1247 more controversial was the last minute campaigning done by its supporters, particularly the group Citizens for a Better Way led by Liz Watanabe. The group had tried to gain the sympathy of supporters through using radio advertisements and social media websites. It had even gone as far as sending pre-recorded telephone calls to the various residents of the State of Hawaii. Anonymous sources even have linked these actions by the Citizens for a Better Way to the Marketing Resource Group, a Michigan-based company investing in casinos in the United States of America. While a spokesperson for the said firm affirmed that they had indeed plans of establishing a casino in Hawaii, it was not linked in any way to the Citizens for a Better Way.

All over the US, the gambling industry has proven to be a powerhouse in revenue generation. However, with every proposal expanding or allowing gambling in a specific area, there will always be concerns raised by those opposed to the idea. In Hawaii at least, a proposal to allow gambling in the state has yet to overcome the efforts of the anti gambling groups.