Pari-mutuels will fight Seminole gambling deal

Lobbyists for the state's 27 dog and horse tracks and jai-alai frontons
say the pact will put them out of business

Josh Hafenbrack
Tallahassee Bureau
Copyright © 2009, Orlando Sentinel
Wednesday, September 02, 2009

TALLAHASSEE: Florida's pari-mutuel gambling industry has come out strongly against the retooled Seminole gambling pact signed by Gov. Charlie Crist, predicting the deal would mean financial ruin for tracks and jai-alai frontons.

They vow to work against it during a potential special session on the casinos-for-cash deal, creating a dicey political environment for Crist to try to sell the deal.

At first glance, the agreement, made public Monday, is sprinkled with sweeteners for pari-mutuel sites such as dog and horse tracks and jai-alai frontons: lower taxes for some sites and expanded, 24-hour poker operations.

But the deal -- which could pay the state as much as $6.8 billion over 20 years -- also gives the Seminole tribe the exclusive right to blackjack and slot machines outside of Broward and Miami-Dade counties, the two counties with voter-approved slots.

That would give the tribe a 20-year monopoly on casino games in the rest of the state. Locked out: the pari-mutuel industry, which has deep roots in Florida and employs almost 25,000 people.

"A lousy compact, I would say - that's probably an understatement," said lobbyist Ron Book, who represents Flagler Dog Track in Miami. "The governor's my friend, but they've given away the farm, as far I'm concerned."

Don't underestimate the pari-mutuel industry's long reach in the Republican-controlled Legislature. Gambling interests have spent at least $5 million lobbying state officials since 2008 - about five times more than the Seminoles, lobbyist disclosure forms show.

The state has 27 pari-mutuel facilities, including the largest collection of dog and horse tracks in the country and a half-dozen jai-alai frontons, the last bastion for that betting game.

These facilities generate $1.3 billion in revenue and pay more than $160 million in taxes, but they are mired in a long, steady decline due to changing consumer tastes and competition from Indian sites and the Internet.

As the racing industry declines, pari-mutuels will need new gambling games to draw customers and stay in business, said Dan Francati, who manages the Daytona Beach Kennel Club & Poker Room. Last year, he opened a new facility with a 50-table poker room, 300 flat-screen televisions and 78 private betting carrels.

"I think [the pact is] a bad deal for the state," he said. "You're turning your back on a lot of people who are employed in this industry."

And even though pari-mutuel executives are frequently at odds with each other, they are in lock step on the new Seminole deal: "We feel that [the new compact] has a genuine bias against the pari-mutuels of the state," said Mark Loewe, the general manager of the Sanford Orlando Kennel Club, which can't even get a card room because of local rules.

With lawmakers considering a special session in October, gambling lobbyists already are urging them to make some heavy edits to aid - or at least allow -- expansion of gaming at pari-mutuels.

A legislative rewrite is "more than plausible, it's the only logical way to go," said Brian Ballard, a Tallahassee-based lobbyist for the Palm Beach Kennel Club. "If the compact is ratified, it essentially ends the pari-mutuel business in Florida - over a long period, but it in essence ends it."

Eight pari-mutuel sites in Broward and Miami-Dade are in better shape: Voters in each county have authorized slot machines, and the sites could add blackjack and baccarat without scuttling the Seminole deal, as long as legislators or voters authorize them.

Dan Adkins, president of Mardi Gras Racing in Hallandale Beach, said he'd "absolutely" use the special session to advocate that South Florida tracks get blackjack tables immediately, in order to compete with the tribe.

Adkins called the gambling pact a "mixed bag" for South Florida but said it but makes for bad economics for the state. "You're slamming the door and locking yourself in for 20 years," he said.

Aaron Deslatte and Rachael Jackson of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Josh Hafenbrack can be reached at jhafenbrack@sun-sentinel.com or 850-224-6214.