Cruise Ship Layoffs Reflect Losing Battle Against Land Gambling

Unfortunately for the cruise ship industry, all that lobbying and noise about gambling scares didn't prevent slots from going into horse and dog tracks.

Every battle over new or changing gambling laws involves a dispute over which groups will receive the massive revenues that gambling inevitably brings. While other smokescreens may be thrown up to hide truths from public eyes. the reality is that it's all about the money.

So, when the state of Florida recently went through drastic changes in gambling rules and regulation, some may have bemoaned the proliferation of gaming, the adverse effects upon society, the corruption of communal morals; yet those who so protest are often found to be not disinterested, but firmly connected to other gambling venues seeking their own exclusive rights to riches.

One group that lobbied the state legislature with millions, hoping to prevent the augmentation of Class III gaming, first to racinos and then more alarmingly to the Seminole casinos, was the cruise ship industry. While cruise lines offer many attractive entertainment options beyond gambling, casino play is certainly both a draw and a moneymaker for the big ships.

Further, several cruise trips were daily ventures, only going a few miles offshore to go past the legal three-mile barrier, at which point bells rang and casinos jumped into action. If blackjack and Vegas slots were available on land, what future would these trips have?

Unfortunately for the cruise ship industry, all that lobbying and noise about gambling scares didn't prevent slots from going into horse and dog tracks; and now Seminole casinos are playing table games, previously a cruise exclusive.

The daily cruise business had been in a precarious state; many of the star-crossed SunCruz line's vessels had been pulled from ports, their journeys cancelled. Now the Palm Beach Princess, a ship taking daily excursions from Riviera Beach in West Palm Beach County, has filed with the state labor board that it will be laying off 94 employees in the next month.

The Princess had already filed for Chapter 11 protection more than a year ago. With the current level of competition in Florida, it has become a hard sell to convince patrons to drive by tracks and casinos, to take the twenty-minute trip out past three miles, to do what they could have been doing much sooner.

Lobbying and scare tactics did not save the casino cruise ships; let's hope imaginative and creative management does.