Slots drafts in FL

According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the Florida legislature's first stab at setting the regs for slots at Broward County pari-mutuel facilities was a disappointment to some. The first slots bill to clear a committee in the state legislature would allow only electronic bingo.



Also, instead of using the taxes on gambling profits for students around the state, the Republican-led committee said the money must instead go to a lottery fund to pay off school construction debts.



The plan put forth by the House Business Regulation Committee Thursday night limits Broward's four pari-mutuel outlets, which includes Pompano Park, to installing machines that are akin to video lottery terminals already in play at Indian casinos in the state and provide far less profit. The deciding vote was cast by Miami Rep. Marco Rubio, an outspoken opponent of slot machines. Voters in Miami's Dade County rejected a plan for slots in the March election.



"No question the voters in Broward knew what they were voting for. Any 8-year-old on the street knows what a slot machine is," said Dan Adkins, vice president of Hollywood Greyhound and leader of the slots referendum push, of the committee's actions Thursday night. But the fact of the matter is, this is the first stop on the road and there's a long way to go."



The constitutional amendment approved by state voters last fall requires all the tax money raised from slot machines to go to education.



The Florida State Senate is expected to take up its own bill Tuesday.



"Right now it looks like Broward vs. the state," said Rep. Ron Greenstein, a Democrat from Coconut Creek, a town not far from Pompano Park. "This bill is so screwed up. We're losing sight of why this constitutional amendment was passed. It was all about education. But when it gets to the floor it will be totally different."



The legislature is scheduled to be in session through May 6.

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