If the reaction of his South Bay...

If the reaction of his South Bay colleague, state Sen. Ralph C. Dills, is any indication, state Assemblyman Richard E. Floyd was wise not to ask the Legislature to put his sports betting proposal on the November, 1990, ballot.

“It’s bad public policy for the state of California to get into gambling,” says Dills (D-Gardena), chairman of the Senate Governmental Organization Committee, a panel that handles gambling legislation. “It’s somewhat juvenile and hypocritical to believe that to legalize something that’s not good will make it good.”

Floyd (D-Carson) is avoiding the Legislature and turning to the public instead. On Oct. 30, he filed a sports betting initiative that will appear on the ballot if supporters gather the valid signatures of 595,485 registered voters.

Floyd says his proposal represents a good way to put bookies out of business and to create a new tax source to raise money for state programs for the elderly and basic local services such as police protection. Dills disagrees.

“It’s sad that we can’t take care of the elderly and pay for police without resorting to bad solutions like gambling,” says the senator, who favors increasing the state income tax instead. “There’s no greater gamble than the stock market these days. If (people) want to gamble, why don’t we just let ‘em gamble on that?”