\nBy Dara kam
\n\tNews Service of Florida
\n\tPublished: Sunday, February 9, 2014 at 10:02 p.m.
\n\tLast Modified: Sunday, February 9, 2014 at 10:02 p.m.
\n\tTALLAHASSEE \u2014 Two stand-alone casinos in South Florida and allowing track operators to quit racing horses and dogs while keeping lucrative card rooms and slot machines are among the proposals on the table as the Florida Senate prepares to roll out its gambling overhaul.<\/p>\n
\tSenate Gaming Committee Chairman Garrett Richter said last week he plans to release a committee bill that will address a swath of gambling issues, including a \u201cgaming control\u201d commission, \u201cinconsistencies\u201d in state law and \u201cdecoupling\u201d racing from pari-mutuel permits that allow for slot machines and card rooms. The rollout of the comprehensive gambling bill is expected during the first week of the 2014 legislative session.<\/p>\n
\tThe committee will continue to consider the options with the draft ready by Feb. 24, Richter said. The committee would first review the proposal the week of March 3, he added. The 60-day legislative session starts March 4.<\/p>\n
\tRichter expressed support for one \u201cdestination resort\u201d permit each in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Companies would have to bid for the permits, Richter said.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThere\u2019s not a chance that this legislature will consider a bill that will provide for unlimited casinos statewide,\u201d Richter, R-Naples, said.<\/p>\n
\tBut, he added, \u201cI happen to think that a destination resort in Miami would be a good thing for the state of Florida. I think it will attract new revenue dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHouse Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, told reporters earlier that his chamber would not consider an expansion of gambling unless it is accompanied by a constitutional amendment asking voters if they want to have a say in future gambling expansions.<\/p>\n
\tWeatherford proposes setting the bar for gambling activities at whatever is currently allowed and whatever passes during this legislative session. Anything beyond that would require statewide voter approval.<\/p>\n
\tBut passage of a committee bill, which Richter said could be 300 pages, remains dubious because of all of the competing interests in the gambling arena.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIf we\u2019re going to be at 300 pages we\u2019re going to need some serious jet-powered head of steam behind this thing to get it off the ground. And the more stuff that\u2019s in it that looks like we\u2019re expanding gambling could make it very difficult to get lift,\u201d Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, said after Richter laid out myriad \u201celements\u201d he wants the bill to include.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cMy objective is to get it off the ground,\u201d Richter said.<\/p>\n
\tAfter the meeting, Richter acknowledged that success of a soup-to-nuts gambling revision would be a long shot and noted that complicated issues often take years to pass.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThis isn\u2019t the first session for these subjects. This is the umpteenth. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s the umpteenth plus one that gets something done or the umpteenth itself that gets something done,\u201d Richter told reporters.<\/p>\n
\tA $1 billion deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida, part of which sunsets next year, poses another hurdle for lawmakers willing to open the door to gambling conglomerates eager to set up shop in the state.<\/p>\n
\tThe compact with the Seminoles gives them exclusive rights to hold banked card games in exchange for $1 billion over five years and allows them to stop paying if slot machines exist anywhere outside of Broward or Miami-Dade counties, except on tribal lands. The compact also allows the tribe to reduce its payments to the state if slot machines are allowed at any facilities that weren\u2019t already operating in Broward or Miami-Dade, except for Hialeah Race Track, when the deal was inked in 2010.<\/p>\n
\tRichter said the destination resorts could cost the state $140 million a year in revenues \u2014 about $100 million more than state economists projected \u2014 from the tribe.<\/p>\n
\tRichter is also likely to face fierce opposition to his suggestion that pari-mutuel operators \u201cdecouple\u201d racing and jai alai games from card rooms and slot machines.<\/p>\n
\tThe state is \u201cdictating to business people how they run their businesses,\u201d Richter said. \u201cBusinesses shouldn\u2019t have to jump through hoops or play games to meet regulatory obligations, especially if the regulatory obligations might be obsolete.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tBut leaving it up to track owners to decide whether they want to run dogs or horses could put breeders\u2019 livelihoods at risk, objected Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI would hesitate to support anything that would totally zero out racing.\u201d<\/p>\n
No replies were posted for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Dara kam News Service of Florida Published: Sunday, February 9, 2014 at 10:02 p.m. Last Modified: Sunday, February 9, 2014 at 10:02 p.m. TALLAHASSEE \u2014 Two stand-alone casinos in South Florida and allowing track operators to quit racing horses…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6962\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}