Without oversight, without regulation, without planning, Florida has become the fourth-largest gambling state in the United States.

Native Americans have a casino monopoly for which they cannot be taxed. And unregulated and untaxed so-called “internet cafés” and “slot barns” have grown to the thousands. The gaming options currently offered in Florida are targeted to our local market, and often to the poor.

The Bogdanoff/Fresen legislation would create a strong Florida Gaming Commission to strictly regulate gambling in Florida. It would either shut down or highly regulate the internet cafés. The Commission would work with the Florida Legislature to replace the current confusing maze of gambling laws with understandable rules. It would be authorized to grant three licenses for “destination resorts” in Miami-Dade and/or Broward counties. Each of the three destination resorts would be required to make an investment of at least $2 billion in our community.

Destination resorts include a number of high-end market segments such as exclusive family vacations, restaurants, retail, residential units, casino, convention facilities and hotels, all integrated and linked through joint agreements to other entertainment venues. Resorts World Miami, if they were to obtain one of the three licenses from the Florida Gaming Commission, for example, would utilize the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts and the American Airlines Arena for concerts and shows.

Destination resorts use an “export-strategy”, targeting international customers, thereby magnifying the economic impact on the community. Resorts World Miami would open offices to promote their South Florida resort in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, Bogotá, Lima, Santiago, Buenos Aires and elsewhere in our hemisphere. The export model is successful because of globalization. Over 70 percent of the visitors to destination resorts come from outside of the state.

The total amount of jobs created will depend upon the size of the resorts licensed by the Florida Gaming Commission and permitted by local government — as well as on the tax rate ultimately set by the Legislature, but, without doubt, three destination resorts in South Florida will create tens of thousands of jobs.

The jobs will pay between $30,000 and $50,000 a year, with benefits. They will be honorable jobs that will alleviate South Florida’s unemployment crisis. Just like 95 percent of the 1,500 workers employed by Resorts World New York (which opened this October) are from New York City, the jobs in the three destination resorts in South Florida will be for South Florida’s workers.

Miami is an international trade center, a communications hub, a growing cultural attraction and a first class international tourism destination. Three destination resorts in South Florida will augment our attractiveness and increase our economic development — not change our character, our brand.

In Singapore (also an international trade center and communications hub), two destination resorts have meant approximately three million additional visitors yearly. Despite the thousands of hotel rooms in the new destination resorts, the overall hotel occupancy rate increased from 76 percent to 86 percent. And Singapore has created 60,000 jobs without changing its character, its brand.