House keeps Internet Cafe ban alive

The House Economic Affairs Committee voted Wednesday to outlaw the so-called Internet Cafes that operate video slot machines in strip malls across the state, ignoring claims that it will lead to the loss of 13,000 jobs and set up a conflict with the Senate.

The bill by Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, has the support of Attorney General Pam Bondi and the other Cabinet officers. It would close the loophole in state law that now allows the slot machine look alikes to operate in more than 1,000 locations under a loophole in the state's sweepstakes law.

"This resets the button back,'' Plakon said. "We have three choices: ban, regulate, or look the other way."

North Florida counties approve slots but court battle awaits

Voters in the rural counties of Gadsden and Washington became the first in the state to agree to install slot machines outside of Miami-Dade and Broward on Tuesday, approving referendums allowing their local horse and dog tracks to offer the Las Vegas-style games.

Gadsden County voters approved slots 63 to 47 percent, while Washington County voters had a 57-43 percent split with some precincts still reportiong. 

But despite their victories, the slot machine battle is likely to be headed for court. The state agency that regulates pari-mutuel gambling has said it will not sanction the games, citing a non-binding opinion from the attorney general who has ruled that the state has no authority to authorize slot machines outside of Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

Meanwhile, as state regulators balk, legislators have quietly stepped in with an Election Day deadline of their own.

Herald poll: Voters want statewide referendum on casinos

Florida voters aren’t sure if they want Las Vegas-style casinos in the state, but they are certain they don’t want Tallahassee to make the decision, according to a new poll by The Miami Herald and other news organizations released late Sunday.

A staggering 81 percent of likely Florida voters surveyed last week said they believe that any proposed changes to state gambling laws should be decided in a statewide referendum. Only 8 percent were against it.

Voters were about evenly split over the question of whether the state should expand gambling to permit Las Vegas-style casinos. Of those surveyed Jan. 24-26, 44 percent opposed new gambling and 42 percent said they support it. The numbers are within the poll’s margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

“There is a clear division in the state with a majority in Southeast Florida in favor, while every other region is nearly evenly divided,’’ said Brad Coker, director of the nonpartisan Jacksonville-based Mason Dixon Polling and Research. Story here.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/29/2615116/poll-let-voters-not-lawmakers.html#storylink=cpy

Senate committee votes to tighten parimutuel loopholes and free the racing dogs

For the second year in a row, the Senate Regulated Industries Committee narrowly approved a bill to allow Florida's 16 remaining dog tracks to stop racing greyhounds and allow their facilities to operate only card rooms or slots casinos.

The bill, by Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Boca Raton, gives each dog track the option of operating live racing and closes loopholes that have allowed the proliferation of other pari-mutuel permits by opening the door to a barrel racing track in Gretna and a summer jai alai permit for the owners of Magic City Casino.

"Those tracks that wish to continue to race will race,'' Sachs said. "It will be dictated by the market."

But, opponents said, the bill also gives the parimutuel industry free rein to use $7 million in existing tax credits to prop up their dying industry.

Miami lawmaker gets spoofed into calls on casino bill

A pro-casino group called hundreds of constituents of Miami Rep. Carlos Trujillo last week using the caller ID of of the Miami Republican's Tallahassee office.

After more than 250 calls came into Trujillo's office at a rapid fire pace, and another 50 people  left messages on his overwhelmed office line, the House asked launched Capitol Police to investigate the alleged unauthorized use of the lawamaker's state office number.

"People would call me and say, 'Stop calling me on behalf of the casinos,''' Trujillo said. "I'd say what do you mean. They'd say they were called and, if they support [House bill] 487, then please call their representative."

Chamber launches new anti-gambling ad, mocking pro-casino's Ben Stein

 Pivoting off the pro-casino ad featuring actor and businessman Ben Stein, the Florida Chamber-backed Coalition to Stop the Bad Bet for Florida unveiled a new television ad today casting doubts on the industry push.

In the ad, a kid in a Ben Stein ad suggests that crime increased and businesses closed when casinos came to Atlantic City.

"So don’t tell me you’re doing this for us, or for Florida,'' another kid says. "You’re doing this for the out-of-state casino operators. And it doesn’t take a kid to figure that out."

The Coalition, led by the Florida Chamber of Commerce with the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association and the Florida Retail Federation.

 

 

The “It Doesn’t Take a Kid, Duh!” ad informs viewers about how out-of-state casino operators are pushing the state’s gambling legislation and how the introduction of mega-casinos to Atlantic City spelled economic disaster for the area’s restaurants and retailers.
The following is the text of the Bad Bet for Florida “It Doesn’t Take a Kid, Duh!” television ad: (Kid in Ben Stein mask) Destination resorts. Limits on gaming. Tallahassee, what are you waiting for?(Takes mask off) Are you kidding me?When they did this in Atlantic City, restaurants closed, stores closed, and crime was everywhere.So don’t tell me you’re doing this for us, or for Florida.You’re doing this for the out-of-state casino operators.And it doesn’t take a kid to figure that out.Duh!Get involved.Message sponsored by your Florida Chamber of Commerce.

The new television ad comes as a new two-page Bad Bet for Florida ad in Florida Trend (see attached) begins hitting mailboxes and newsstands across the state. The Florida Trend ad informs the magazine’s readers about:
·       The problems with the Florida mega-casino proposal;·       How the legislation is a distraction from other important issues that Florida lawmakers must address; and·       How Nevada is a national leader in unemployment and other dubious areas. “Destination casino gambling is a distraction that could take our state’s focus off the mission to create a better economic climate,” said Allan Bense, chair of the Florida Chamber Task Force Against Gambling Expansion and former Florida House Speaker. “Florida should encourage businesses to continue diversifying our state’s economy and growing private-sector jobs to create long-term, high-paying jobs Floridians need.”

LV Sands: Fresen's proposed amendments make casino bill 'less appealing'

The effort to find a politically palatable compromise that will get a destination resort casino bill through the House may have found its first casualty: Las Vegas Sands.

The Las Vegas casino giant, which was the first to bring the concept of a "destination resort" casino and convention center to Florida two years ago, says it would have a hard time supporting the bill if the amendments by sponsor Rep. Erik Fresen , R-Miami, get on the bill.

"My client, the Las Vegas Sands, has some concerns about the amendments that would make [the bill] less appealing,'' said Nick Iarossi, lobbyist for Sands.

Iarossi told the Herald/Times that specifically the idea of using tax revenues generated by the casino industry to buy back pari-mutuel permits for low performing horse and dog track and jai alai frontons is "causing some discomfort.''

Poll: Miami-Dade voters evenly split on casinos, but opposition growing

Miami-Dade voters are evenly divided on whether to allow casino gambling in South Florida, but opposition appears to be growing even as the Legislature debates competing plans to open the region to Las Vegas-style casino resorts, according to a new poll.

In a survey of 400 registered voters in Miami-Dade, voters split almost equally over the idea of large-scale casinos. The electorate is similarly divided over putting a destination resort and casino in downtown Miami on The Miami Herald’s waterfront property.

Pollster Bendixen & Amandi International conducted the poll Tuesday through Thursday for The Miami Herald, El Nuevo Herald, WFOR-CBS 4 and Univisión 23 to gauge voters’ attitudes about casino gambling and other local issues. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

On gambling “the vote in the electorate is still very much split,” said Fernand Amandi, the firm’s managing partner.

Forty-four percent of respondents said they supported the concept of Las Vegas-style resorts, while 46 percent said they opposed it — a narrow difference within the poll’s margin of error. Ten percent did not answer or offered no opinion.

The poll also asked about specific plans for a $3.8 billion casino resort on Biscayne Bay proposed by Genting, a Malaysian casino company that bought The Herald property last year. Forty-seven percent of respondents said they supported the plan, and 45 percent said they were opposed — again within the margin of error — with 9 percent offering no opinion.

The voters’ attitudes toward Genting’s proposal remained largely unchanged even after hearing arguments for and against the project, the survey found. The poll is the first to publicly gauge voter sentiment about the Genting proposal. More here.

No Casinos focuses on Las Vegas' troubles in new ad

 

No Casinos, lobbying group opposed to the destination resort casino expansion, announced it is running its first commercial ad running in the Miami and Tallahassee media markets. Entitled “Leave it in Vegas,” the 30-second spot focuses on Nevada’s troubled rankings in crime, unemployment, divorce and economic misery.

Proponents of the bill have been running ads for the past week in Tallahassee and Miami promoting the effort as a job creator.

 

Fresen pitches changes to casino resort bill

The House sponsor of the bill to bring three mega resort casinos to Florida unveiled a series of amendments Wednesday to make the measure more palatable to his conservative, anti-gambling colleagues.

The changes by Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami, are designed to “scale back existing gaming and ensure there is no additional gaming,” he said.

But while Fresen’s changes are designed to limit the expansion of gambling in Florida, the state Senate went in the opposite direction last week when it adopted amendments to a similar bill by Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff that opens the door to Las Vegas-style slot machines in every horse and dog track and jai-alai fronton in the state, so long as voters approve.

Under Fresen’s proposal, the state would authorize three destination resort casinos and, like the Senate bill, allow them only if voters approve in a countywide referendum. Bogdanoff’s bill, however, would allow for the three resort casinos to operate in any part of the state. Story here.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/18/2596559/house-casino-bill-sponsor-proposes.html#storylink=cpy