The Florida Division of Elections website has provided information on campaign donations, with Disney having donated $500,000 to a group working to stop casino expansion in the state. Voters in Charge is a committee focused on passing a constitutional amendment that would give voters of Florida exclusive rights to decide if casino gambling should be authorized or not.
According to Casino.org, the Voter Control of Gambling Amendment would stop politicians and lobbyists from passing legislation that would increase the amount of casino gambling available in the state. With $500,000 provided by Disney in July, the total amount contributed to the campaign since April by the company comes to $1.15 million.
Back in April, the Florida Supreme Court showed support for the ballot proposal which set in motion the need for signatures in order for the proposal to be placed on the ballot. The proposal requires 766,200 signatures with 151,476 already having been submitted by the group based on information at the Division of Elections site.
The group has to continue to work towards getting the required number of valid petition signatures for the proposal to make the November 2018 ballot. Disney has added their support to the cause as they want to avoid any kind of competition that would be at odds with their family-friendly offerings.
However, the anti-gambling stance of Disney has led to the company’s motive being called into question and accusations of hypocrisy as they own the rights to Marvel and Star Wars and gambling machines have been created based on the 7BALL se franchises. However, Disney did apparently take note of this and have announced that slot games with Marvel and Star Wars themes will be phased out, with licensing deals not to be renewed once they expire.
