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Shuttles work around ATM ban

FLORIDA – As reported by the Miami Herald: "Lisa Lightfoot took her cash from the ATM inside a dingy bowling alley, bought two bags of chips and walked outside to a waiting shuttle.

"The eight-person golf cart made a couple of quick turns across an expansive parking lot then dropped her just steps from the door to the Mardi Gras Racetrack and Gaming Center.

"Lightfoot made the early afternoon ATM run for one reason: so her mother could keep playing the slots.

"That's because when legislators wrote the rules for Las Vegas-style slot machines at Broward County's parimutuels, they were careful to ban ATMs from the premises, on the theory that it would prevent compulsive bettors from gambling away the rent money.

"But the two Broward tracks where slot machines are up and running have found a way to work around the rules: They run shuttles to ferry gamblers to nearby ATMs.

"At the bowling alley adjacent to Mardi Gras, gamblers are greeted by a newly paved walkway, bright blue awning and ATM sign -- all courtesy of the casino.

"…At Mardi Gras, the golf carts pick up people on no particular schedule, sometimes one or two at a time, waiting near the casino entrance.

"The shuttle is so popular on Friday and Saturday nights that the casino often runs an 18-passenger bus the short distance across the parking lot, [Mardi Gras President Dan Adkins] said…"

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