Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Zika Fever, Card Games Go Bust

August 7, 2016

The conversation across America might have been focused on the presidential race or the upcoming Rio Olympics — but in Florida, everyone was abuzz about Zika.

The mosquito-borne virus had been a nagging presence for a while, but in the week after the first homegrown cases of the disease were disclosed, talk took off about the sickness with a funny name and serious consequences.

http://www.northescambia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/floridaweeklly.jpgEven GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, visiting Northeast Florida, was asked to respond. He pretty much said that Gov. Rick Scott had it under control. Scott tried to make the same point, calling Florida a “safe state” after spending weeks ringing the alarm bells about Zika.

With that in play, it took something pretty dramatic to break above the din. Like a judge issuing a potentially wide-ranging ruling that some card games violate state law. Or an already strange race for the U.S. Senate taking another unique turn, with one Democratic candidate insisting he won’t debate another because of domestic-abuse allegations.

NO ZZZs IN FIGHT VS. ZIKA

Despite news coverage prompted by cases of the virus contracted through mosquito bites, most of Florida’s Zika infections still stem from travel outside the country. The total count as of Friday afternoon was 422 cases. Of those, 16 had been locally contracted — i.e., caused by an airborne pest.

Still, the idea that the disease had finally made the long-feared jump to the Sunshine State sent officials scrambling. Scott and the director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spent Thursday in Miami talking about state and federal efforts to stop the spread of the virus.

After touring the Wynwood area, an artsy community just north of downtown Miami that recorded the first cases of locally transmitted Zika, Scott appeared with CDC head Thomas Frieden to update the community and the state about the Zika response.

“I spent the day walking around Wynwood and I had the opportunity to meet with residents and business owners to let them know everything we are doing at the state level to combat the Zika virus,” Scott said.

“We are going to continue to be very aggressive,” he said.

The governor continued to lament the fact that Congress has not passed, and President Barack Obama has not signed, a bill to fund a larger Zika response. Scott has authorized $26.2 million in emergency funding to combat the disease, and Frieden said the CDC and the federal government would support Florida’s efforts.

Aside from the health effects of the virus, which can cause severe birth defects, one of the major concerns for Florida is that any outbreak could hamper the state’s tourism industry. Earlier in the week, Scott had stressed that the home of Walt Disney World and hundreds of miles of beaches remains a “safe state,” and on Thursday he said early indications about tourism were reassuring.

“We’ve told basically the world to continue to come to Florida,” Scott said. “I was out at Disney World last week and it was packed, fortunately.”

But at least one expert warned against reading too much into that. Mark Bonn, professor of services management at Florida State University’s Dedman School of Hospitality, said the state — which recently has also drawn negative international attention because of a mass shooting in Orlando and toxic algae blooms in estuaries fed by Lake Okeechobee — needs to get a handle on the Zika issue before the cooler-weather tourism season kicks in.

“We know from tourist behavioral research that the most important decision-making motive in a consumer’s mind about where they’re going to go for their vacation is safety and security,” said Bonn, who specializes in tourism marketing and research. “So if a consumer is at all unsure about a destination’s safety and security, they’re probably going to pass and probably go somewhere else.”

British and Canadian health officials have issued advisories about travel to Florida.

CREATIVE CARD GAMES GO BUST

If it was a gamble for pari-mutuels throughout the state to start operating “designated-player” card games, then their luck might have just run out. In a decision that could have far-reaching implications, an administrative law judge ruled Monday that the way the games are being operated by a Jacksonville poker room violates a state ban on “banked” card games.

Monday’s ruling that the popular card games are being played illegally comes more than four years after Florida gambling regulators first signed off on the games, which have eclipsed other card games like Texas Hold ‘Em in popularity among patrons.

But it wasn’t until last year, as state officials and the Seminole Tribe reached a proposed agreement on a gambling deal, that regulators tried to shut down the games.

The background: The controversy involves what are known as “designated-player” card games, also called “player-banked” card games, which include a hybrid of three-card poker and resemble casino-style card games but are played among gamblers instead of against the house. Pari-mutuel operators — who are banned by law from offering “banked” card games, such as blackjack, in which players bet against the house instead of against each other — contend the games are legal.

But, in a case involving Jacksonville Kennel Club, Inc. that was viewed by both sides as a legal test of the issue, Administrative Law Judge Suzanne Van Wyk ruled Monday that the way the card games are being played “did indeed violate” state law.

“Given the strict statutory prohibition against gambling, the intricate regulatory scheme imposed, and the narrow carve out for cardrooms, the games cannot be allowed to continue to operate in the current manner,” Van Wyk wrote in a 54-page order. “The basic (tenet) of the cardroom statute is that authorized games are not casino gaming because the participants ‘play against each other.’ As currently operated, the designated player is a player in name only. The existing operation of the games does no more than establish a bank against which participants play.”

Lawyer John Lockwood, who represents the Jacksonville facility and other operators, said Monday that he was reviewing Van Wyk’s order. An appeal is expected.

NO DEBATE ABOUT U.S. SENATE RACE

The odds of a debate in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate — where incumbent Marco Rubio appears to be well out in front of a cast of opponents including home builder Carlos Beruff — were already looking pretty long. Now it seems that the more hotly contested Democratic side of the race will also lack any face-to-face showdowns.

Democratic Congressman Patrick Murphy said Wednesday he would not debate his main opponent, Congressman Alan Grayson, in the Aug. 30 primary because of allegations of domestic abuse. That comes after reports last week, led by Politico, that Grayson’s ex-wife said she was the victim of abuse.

Grayson has denied the allegations, but the story prompted at least two progressive organizations that had supported Grayson to abandon him weeks before the primary.

On Wednesday, Murphy backed out of any plans to debate Grayson after he said abuse survivors told him “that Alan Grayson’s continued presence in this race is an insult to the countless Floridians whose lives have been affected by this kind of violence.”

“Alan Grayson’s words and actions have disqualified him from public service, and I cannot in good conscience give him a platform to promote himself and his campaign,” Murphy said. “As a result, I will not participate in any forums or debates with Alan Grayson.”

Murphy and Grayson also face longshot candidate Pam Keith, a labor attorney, and Grayson’s campaign tried to use that to imply sexism might have played a role in Murphy’s decision to capitalize on “some very serious allegations to exploit this very personal family struggle, and for his own political gain.”

“Pam Keith was unequivocal today about her willingness to debate Alan Grayson alone, or with Patrick Murphy,” Grayson campaign manager Michael Ceraso said. “Perhaps Patrick Murphy has an issue debating with anyone in this primary, whether it’s Alan Grayson, or the only woman in the race.”

The Murphy-Grayson race has already been a bare-knuckle affair, and while it might lack any face-to-face clashes, the two still have more than three weeks to sling accusations at each other before they cross the finish line.

STORY OF THE WEEK: Gov. Rick Scott and other officials worked to reassure Floridians and tourists in the wake of the first locally transmitted cases of the Zika virus.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “We probably should just schedule the same conversation about every seven days, it appears.”—state Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, asked to respond to the latest comments from GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump that caused widespread outrage.

by Brandon Larrabee, The New Service of Florida

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News