SHARE:
Gambling
House Odds
Will Florida Become a Vegas State?
 |
"It's a competitive disadvantage to other areas close by" to be without slots, adds Fredric Gushin, managing director of international consulting firm Spectrum Gaming Group in Atlantic City, N.J.
How many more dominos fall depends on the Legislature and on lobbying and infighting among the betting houses that's already begun to play out, as each seeks to influence laws and regulations to protect itself from competition.
There's plenty of gamesmanship afoot. Orlando lawyer Bill Sublette, a former legislator who chairs the anti-gambling group No Casinos, counts scores of lobbyists working for industry interests, operators and vendors. "The only thing I've ever seen like it was the heyday of the tobacco industry when they had every high-powered lobbyist in Tallahassee on the payroll," he says.
Gambling industry types were out in force in March in Hollywood for a state workshop on slot regulation. The state's pari-mutuel wagering division has angered the industry by, among other things, proposing to ban facilities from giving away hotel rooms and gifts to gamblers. Pari-mutuel owners already chafe over the 50% tax rate on slots and other fees. Combined with promised payments to the pari-mutuels' hometowns and horse breeders, the taxes and fees mean 60% of slot revenue leaves the house. Allan B. Solomon, executive vice president and general counsel of Isle of Capri Casinos, says that's higher than in any of the company's other markets.
But as he stands outside the meeting room, Solomon has the air of a gambler whose bet is about to pay off. Isle, one of the four Broward pari-mutuel owners, spent $5 million on the 2004-05 slots campaign. The Biloxi-based 15-casino, $1.1-billion revenue company positioned itself for casino gambling in Florida with its 1995 purchase of the 223-acre Pompano Park Harness Track in Broward for $8 million. Pompano's most recent annual pari-mutuel commissions were down slightly. But now general manager Dick Feinberg stands on the 42-year-old grandstand and overlooks the construction site for a $125-million, 157,000-sq.-ft. slots and restaurants building. A hotel may come later. Just off I-95, Pompano will share the north Broward and Palm Beach slots market with only Seminole Coconut Creek Casino -- also undergoing expansion nearby.
"This is going to be huge to us," Feinberg says. Indeed, Isle has raised its bet, loaning $5 million to Florida Gaming Corp., owner of jai alai in Miami and Fort Pierce, for the exclusive right to negotiate to buy the Miami jai alai fronton if Miami-Dade voters approve slots next year.
Of the other three Broward pari-mutuels, Mardi Gras Racetrack, formerly known as Hollywood Greyhound, plans to house its 1,500 slots in an existing building. (The maximum allowed under the new law is 1,500 per facility, but the industry plans to fight for more.) Gulfstream Park, a thoroughbred track in Hallandale Beach purchased in 1999 by $625-million revenue Ontario-based Magna Entertainment, owner of Santa Anita and Pimlico, plans to house its 1,500 slots in an expanded and renovated facility. It has joined with Cleveland developer Forest City Enterprises on a more than $1-billion, 1,500-home, retail, office and hotel project to begin this year on the Gulfstream grounds.
The fourth pari-mutuel, Dania Jai Alai, hasn't decided its plans, says assistant general manager Marty Fleischman. That worries jai alai players. Irusta says slots were supposed to save jai alai in Rhode Island, but then the operator agreed to give the state a higher cut of revenue in exchange for permission to kill jai alai.
