March 29, 2024

Gambling

House Odds

Will Florida Become a Vegas State?

Mike Vogel | 5/1/2006

The rules

Gambling is regulated in Florida by a thicket of laws and rules, many drawn not to protect the public but pushed by one industry segment seeking a competitive advantage. For example, the biggest barrier to entry for new pari-mutuels is a law that prohibits new tracks and frontons within 50 to 100 miles of existing operators, depending on the type of pari-mutuel.

? "We're clearly one step away from the total statewide expansion of gambling in Florida. There's no question about that."
--State Rep. Randy Johnson, R-Celebration

Some pari-mutuels now complain about yesteryear's rules against innovations such as telephone wagering. "It's like being McDonald's and you can never (sell) a chicken sandwich. Other businesses can grow and change," complains W. Bennett Collett Jr., Florida Gaming president. Solomon, meanwhile, dismisses the idea that the pari-mutuel industry itself is behind the strictures. "Times have changed," Solomon says.

But don't tell that to Gale Fontaine, president of the Florida Arcade Association, the industry group for operators of prize machines for grown-ups. Fontaine holds a community service award from the Aging & Disability Resource Center in Broward. But a Thursday in March found the great-grandmother a defendant in a Broward courtroom. She faces five years in prison for allegedly running an illegal gambling house -- her arcades, where seniors drop coins in machines for a chance at points to earn debit cards and other prizes.

Fontaine, who canceled an interview for this article, complained to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel after her December arrest that the pari-mutuels pressured law enforcement to go after her. Fontaine and the association say their businesses were legalized by the 1984 "Chuck E. Cheese" exemption for game machines requiring an element of skill. Frank Mirabella, the association's Tallahassee lobbyist, expects legal vindication: If "it's good for Chuck E. Cheese, it's good for the senior arcades. It's the same law for everybody."

A matter of time?

While both opponents and supporters of gambling believe it will expand in Florida, there is no consensus on how far it will go.

The market's there for it. Florida will pass New York as the third-largest state by 2011. Florida's 50-and-older population will grow to 9.9 million in 2030 from 6.3 million now. Gambling cruises shuttle buses to retirement communities for a reason. Tourists are a bonus. The state's gambling market is "not anywhere near well supplied yet," says Jason Pawlina of research and analysis firm Christiansen Capital Advisors in New Gloucester, Maine.

Tags: Politics & Law, Dining & Travel, Southeast, Around Florida, Government/Politics & Law

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