Who would have thought this could come back to us again. I’m speaking of the slots issue. Floridians against expanded gambling won a state court appeal though whatever the final outcome, it will be many months. In the interim, everyone will plow ahead with their slots plans.
Was there fraud in getting the slots action on the ballot? Should it ever have been on the ballot? http://www.sptimes.com/2005/01/14/State/Groups_question_petit.shtml
I’d much prefer we worked a deal with the tribes to share revenue and agree to restrictions on locations with them. Yes, this would mean lost job opportunity to the tracks, but I’d rather invest in other more meaningful parts of our economic engine than gambling. It seems a little too late and too painful to the businesses that have already invested millions to change that now.
more stories http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cslots09aug09,0,2358467.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
http://www.greyhoundnetworknews.org/backissues/01/summer01_cover_a.html
http://greyhoundmagazine.com/managearticle.asp?c=30&a=584
http://www.hsus.org/in_the_courts/docket/FL_greyhounds.html
http://www.becker-poliakoff.com/publications/newsletters/e/winter02/gaming_parity.htm
BTW- the last is an argument for the slots amendment. Agreed. We were losing money. But is the solution we are now getting the best deal for everyone? I don’t think so. Will we benefit? Absolutely. But there will also be a social cost. It’s silly to say that we are not expanding gambling. The tracks are not open year round, but they will be now. And the sites may be limited, but they will be expanded to bring in, what, 20,000 more people a day? That’s expansion in my book. Plus you can count on massive advertising even here in the south Florida area. I guarantee it won’t be limited to targeting tourists. The Hard Rock Seminole Casino will have an edge as being the ‘first’ much like Amazon.com. We were foolish not to bargain with them for some revenue sharing like other states who have reaped millions. http://indianz.com/IndianGaming/
http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2005_1st/Mar05_TampaHardRock.html