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Fragile Progress Made in Gambling

TALLAHASSEE, Florida – As reported by the Miami Herald: "A nervous hush came over a room full of gaming industry lobbyists Friday as a Senate committee did the unexpected when it took up the slots-machine bill: It voted to bar Broward's four parimutuels from remaining in the horse race, dog race or jai alai business if they to choose to offer slot machines.

"The amendment by Sen. Dan Webster, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was condemned by parimutuel lobbyists as 'devastating' to their efforts to resuscitate their ailing businesses by adding slot machines to their gambling menus. To Webster it was a simple question of choice.

"But the industry worries were short-lived: After watching the faces of the powerful industry hired guns turn ashen at the 5-3 vote, the senator who cast the pivotal vote reversed himself, killing the amendment on a tie vote.

"…In the House, the story was different. The Fiscal Council approved a bill that imposed a 55-percent tax rate on slot machine revenues, one of the highest in the nation, and stripped away a provision that would allow parimutuels to upgrade their slot machines from bingo-style to the higher-stakes Las Vegas style if the Indian casinos start offering them.

"It was another day of fragile progress for the gambling industry, as lawmakers attempt to regulate slot machines in Broward County by a July deadline. Legislators must balance their ideological objections to expanding gambling with their practical desire to capture tax revenues from the games…"

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