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Who's in control of gambling if Amendment 3 passes?

An amendment to the Florida constitution promises to take the future of gambling out of the hands of lawmakers and put it into the hands of voters, but opponents say if it passes, First Coast families will have less of a voice, not more.

An amendment to the Florida constitution promises to take the future of gambling out of the hands of lawmakers and put it into the hands of voters, but opponents say if it passes, First Coast families will have less of a voice, not more.

Amendment 3 will appear on the Florida ballot in November.

"Amendment 3 is meant to fool you into thinking something that it's not,” said Jamie Shelton, president of Best Bet, where customers wager on things like poker and dog racing at its locations in Jacksonville and Orange Park.

Those are communities where back in 2016, voters approved a referendum to allow more types of gambling like slot machines, but efforts to get that approved at the state capitol have been a bust.

Amendment 3 says, "Florida voters shall have the exclusive right to decide whether to authorize casino gambling."

Shelton says that sounds good on paper, but local voters are even less likely to see the changes they want if that happens.

"Do you want the people in Miami telling you what you want to do in northeast Florida,” Shelton said.

State Rep. Clay Yarbrough who supports Amendment 3, says the state has already doubled down on the local referendums.

“Florida supreme court rulings have said that there would not be that type of expansion,” Yarborough said.

The question isn’t what’s good for any one county, but what’s good for the state, supporters of the amendment say.

"It's really a question of, ‘do we want to maintain our family-friendly brand or do we want to allow Tallahassee and politicians decide to just expand casino-type gambling without voter approval,’” Yarborough said.

“What Amendment 3 does is basically take away local voter control,” Shelton said.

Amendment three does not affect federal law regarding state and tribal compacts.

Click here to read the language of the amendment for yourself.

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