Casinos the future of Florida's beaches?
2/8/2010
By Josh Hafenbrack,TALLAHASSEE - Picture a Vegas-style Bellagio on the beach. Rows of neon-lit slot machines, blackjack dealers and craps dice.
In Florida? It might not be as unlikely as it seems. For the first time, the Florida Legislature's conservative, anti-gambling façade is showing cracks.
As Gov. Charlie Crist pushes his Seminole gambling deal yet again, legislators are beginning to think bigger — with even anti-gambling conservatives weighing the idea of trying to use Florida's tourist appeal to create lucrative casino complexes.
Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, who strongly opposed the expansion of slots in South Florida, now says that since gambling is everywhere in Florida, she supports a "free market" approach. She is pitching a "Gaming Equalization Act" to lure a half-dozen gambling executives to build beachside hotel-casinos.
One of the Legislature's staunchest conservatives, Rep. Alan Hays, says he wants the state to get into the gambling business directly by owning casinos and hiring private operators, similar to the state Lottery.
Hays noted that under the governor's proposed deal with the Seminoles, if the tribe makes $4 billion in gambling profits, the state would net around $800 million. That leaves $3.2 billion for the Seminoles.
"That one line right there shows you, there is a ton of money that can go into Floridians' pockets," said Hays, R-Umatilla. "We can reduce taxes or we can certainly fund a whole lot more education with $3.2 billion than we can with $800 million."
The pro-casino stance is a shift for Hays, who is perhaps most well-known for sponsoring an anti-evolution bill to allow creationism in Florida classrooms. Since being elected to the House in 2004, he has been a consistent "no" vote on gambling expansion.
"No matter what my personal views are, that doesn't mean gambling is going to go away," Hays said. "With that in mind, I feel it's my obligation to people of Florida to try to get the best deal we can."
Big casinos won't come easily. It would take a statewide vote to allow slots outside of Broward and Miami-Dade counties, as well as local referendums to authorize casino construction. Hays said his idea would require a "lot of homework" and would probably take two or three years to get through the Legislature.
Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, said the casino idea seems to be gaining traction. He called the debate over the Seminole gambling an eye-opener for legislators on how pervasive the gambling industry is in Florida.
Gambling now tops $7 billion a year in the state, ranking sixth largest in the nation by some estimates. It includes an ever-expanding state-run Lottery, 27 pari-mutuel facilities, eight Indian casinos that raked in $1.9 billion in 2008, 5,620 slot machines in South Florida, and an unregulated and untaxed market that includes cruises to nowhere and penny slots in strip malls.
"Surprisingly, there's been a lot of discussion" on legalizing full-fledged casinos, Galvano said. "Putting it into reality is a much more difficult task."
Indeed, not everyone is on board. And 2010 is an election year, so the environment is not conducive to making dramatic changes in state policy.
"I am troubled by broad expansion of gaming," said the budget-writing Senate Ways and Means Chairman J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales. "I just have this vision of Jimmy Stewart walking down Main Street in It's a Wonderful Life, and I want to be encouraging" family values.
In the Capitol, pari-mutuel businesses — and their lobbying muscle — are focused on a less grandiose goal: getting a lower rate tax on slots and no-limit poker games to help them compete with Indian gambling. The House is pushing a bill to accomplish that, which could get a floor vote in the first few weeks of the regular session that begins March 2.
"Let's get what's possible, not hold out for a miracle," said Marc Dunbar, a lobbyist for Gulstream Park in Hallandale Beach.
In addition, pari-mutuels not in Broward and Miami-Dade are pushing for the Legislature to authorize bingo slots or video lottery terminals through local referendums, which would provide a fresh revenue stream for struggling greyhound and horse tracks and jai-alai frontons around the state.
Meanwhile, Crist is still pushing his Seminole gambling deal — for a second straight year. Citing the pari-mutuels' strong influence in the both chambers of the Legislature, the governor is calling for a "hybrid" approach that could benefit both the tribe and pari-mutuel businesses. He hasn't revealed any details.
The financial stakes are high. Crist put $433 million from the Seminole gambling deal in his 2010-11 budget, to help finance a potential increase in school spending. On the other side, Florida's 27 pari-mutuels employ 26,000 workers.
The debate is shrouded in uncertainty. Around the Capitol, lobbyists and lawmakers are buzzing that the federal government could soon shut down the blackjack tables at Seminole tribal resorts, a potential game-changer. But the regulators at the National Indian Gaming Commission are mum.
The Seminole tribe, which operates its flagship Hard Rock casinos in Hollywood and Tampa, has been quiet in Tallahassee in recent weeks while the federal government considers whether its blackjack games are legal. Even though the tribe is a sovereign nation, it needs Florida's permission to have blackjack, since the games are illegal in the state.
Blackjack games have been operating at tribal casinos since 2008 under a deal with the governor that was thrown out by the state Supreme Court. Ever since, the Seminoles have been under a legal cloud. If the federal government shuts down the blackjack tables, the tribe will have a huge incentive to strike a deal with the state and keep its 231 tables up and running.
Dan Adkins, who owns Mardi Gras Gaming in Hallandale Beach, said it's unrealistic to expect Vegas casinos to start opening in South Florida in 2010, but he offered a bullish assessment of what will emerge from the state Capitol this spring.
"I'm very optimistic that we'll resolve it this year, and that includes a compact, an incremental step [for the pari-mutuels] and a look at the future," he said. "I think it's the smart thing to do — looking at the big picture."
Source: Orlando Sentinel