Florida Senate panel pushes
through expanded gambling bills
By Mary Ellen Klas
Tallahassee Bureau
© 2009 Miami Herald
Wednesday, march 25, 2009
TALLAHASSEE - Within less than an hour, the Senate Regulated Industries Committee Wednesday authorized $1 billion in expanded gambling in Florida, allowing the governor to negotiate a compact with the Seminoles that gives them roulette wheels and craps tables and gives lighter-fare games to horse and dog tracks around the state.
''Don't kid yourself. We are a gaming state, so why wouldn't we want to be the cream of the crop rather than losing citizens going somewhere else?'' said Sen. Dennis Jones, the sponsor of the two bills and chairman of the committee.
The vote was unanimous for the proposal to give the state's 25 parimutuel facilities new gaming options. On the plan to give Seminoles full-fledged casinos, only West Palm Beach Democrat Dave Aronberg voted no.
The two proposals, which are designed to move through the process in tandem, were so loaded with pieces long-sought by the state's gambling industry that one lobbyist called it a ``Christmas tree bill.''
Included in it is a plan to lower the legal gambling age from 21 to 18, give parimutuels outside of Miami-Dade and Broward counties the option to run electronic slot machines in which players play against each other and allow parimutuels to offer historic racing games in which people watch a video of unidentified horse races from the past.
The Senate bill also reduces the tax rate on slot machine gaming from 50 percent to 35 percent and provides that the payout is no less than 85 percent at all facilities.
The state will get ''$1 billion in recurring new general revenue, not just this year but every year,'' Jones said.
Aronberg, however, said he opposed the Seminole bill because it goes too far. ''There's a middle ground that can maximize our revenues for the state of Florida and ensure that gambling is not expanded beyond the point of no return,'' Aronberg said. ``I feel uncomfortable with full casinos in Florida and that's why I voted no.''
Seminole Tribe council member Max Osceola said that while the tribe is grateful that both the House and Senate are moving forward with bills authorizing a compact, he like the Senate's proposal to give them full casinos. ''We've been offering this since 1990,'' he said. ``So we haven't changed our position.''
Mary Ellen Klas can be reached at meklas@MiamiHerald.com.
Florida Senate panel passes broad gambling plan
By Josh Hafenbrack
Tallahassee Bureau
South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Copyright © 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Wednesday, march 25, 2009
TALLAHASSEE: A plan that would turn Florida tribal casinos into mini-versions of the Las Vegas strip passed out of the Senate Regulated Industries Committee today with virtually no debate and scant opposition.
The Senate plan would give the Seminole tribe full-fledged casinos, adding craps and roulette to its current gaming roster of no-limit poker, blackjack, baccarat and slots. And gambling would flourish on non-tribal lands, too, with blackjack tables at South Florida racetracks and slots-like video-lottery games elsewhere in the state.
"We're going to allow both our existing pari-mutuels and the Seminole tribe, hopefully, to be very, very prosperous in the future and we're going to benefit from that," said Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole, who chairs Regulated Industries.
He added the bill would make Florida a "tourist destination for gaming. And let's face it: We're already a gaming state. With the lottery, with cruises to nowhere, with pari-mutuels that have been here for 75 years, don't kid yourself: We're a gaming state. So why wouldn't you want to become the cream of the crop?"
The tribe would pay the state $400 million a year for the right to operate full, Vegas-legal casinos under the Senate plan.
In less than a half-hour and with virtually no debate, the Senate committee passed its two-bill gambling package, one authorizing full casinos on tribal lands and other giving more games and a lower tax rate to pari-mutuel sites.
The only "no" vote came from Sen. Dave Aronberg, D- Greenacres, who objected that having full-fledged casinos on Seminole land would take the state "beyond the point of no return."
Next up: the House, which Tuesday night rolled out a draft version of its own legislation that is sharply at odds with the Senate plan.
Rather than expanding gaming, the House version would shut down blackjack tables at Seminole casinos within 90 days of signing a new agreement. The tribe would maintain the exclusive right to slot machines outside Broward and Miami-Dade counties, the House version says.