Slots Votes Raising Questions

Slots Votes Raising Questions
by Mike Vasilinda

Three Florida counties, two in rural North Florida, and populous Palm beach County have all scheduled referendums to authorize slot machines. Gadsden and Washington Counties will vote on slots in January. Palm Beach in November. But as Mike Vasilinda tells us, Governor Rick Scott wants lawmakers to step in and prohibit the votes.

This barrel racing track 25 miles west of the state Capitol is raising eyebrows in Tallahassee. Some are questioning whether it can legally run as a quarter horse track, but so far it has won every legal challenge. Now the track is betting on a January 31st vote to authorize slot machines. The mayor of nearby Gretna says a yes vote is a vote for jobs.

“It’s going to be a huge job creator for us, it’s going to be a huge revenue creator for us,” Gretna Mayor Clarence Jackson said. “And what I have on my mind is roads and infrastructure.”

Three counties have already voted to put a slots referendum on the ballot next year. Washington County, just north of Panama City, will also vote January 31st. And Palm Beach will vote next November on whether to put slots at two facilities there.

All of the votes raise big questions about expanding gambling.

On one hand, the 2010 law authorizing the compact with the Seminole Indians seems to say that voters can authorize slots in any county. But others are saying not so fast.

“Their authority to issue licenses, slot licenses, is still limited to Dade Broward,” attorney Jack Skelding said.

At stake in the votes could be a billion dollars paid over five years by the Seminole Indians for exclusive rights to slots machines outside of South Florida, and that says Governor Rick Scott, is reason enough for lawmakers to act before the January 31st votes to clarify what he is calling a gray area of the gambling law.