The slot machines issue in Broward County, Florida
Commission wants entire slots payout
Hoping to take advantage of state lawmakers' failure to pass regulations governing slot machines, county commissioners agreed Tuesday to investigate whether they can legally set their own rules, get slots up and running -- and funnel all the profits to Broward County schools.
In a March 8 referendum, Broward voters approved slot machines at four venues: Dania Jai-Alai, Gulfstream Park, Pompano Park harness track and Hollywood Greyhound Track. Taxes levied on the slots are intended to go to schools in statewide, shared among Florida's 67 counties.
The constitutional amendment, approved by Florida voters last November, may block Broward commissioners from capturing all the tax revenue generated by the new games.
The amendment stipulated that any tax revenue ``must supplement public education funding statewide.''
Commissioners agreed to review a contract the parimutuel industry struck with the Florida School Boards Association that tentatively assigned Florida schools 30 percent of gross gambling profits.
But that contract is nonbinding and may be moot since the Legislature failed to act.
Broward's Vice Mayor Ben Graber said he would go along with a review of the issue, but fears the county is ``spinning its wheels.''
''We don't have the authority, I think, to get involved with regulations,'' he said. ``We should let the courts decide. And I don't want to get involved with the school system.''
The amendment also required lawmakers to pass rules for slots operations, with a deadline of July 1, but they adjourned May 6 without doing so.
There are no plans for the Legislature to return for a special session this summer.
'I can appreciate [commissioners'] effort and what they're trying to do, but this is going to court,'' said Dan Adkins, an executive with the Hollywood Greyhound Track who worked with Floridians for a Level Playing Field, the coalition of parimutuels that financed the pro-slots amendment campaign last fall.
'To me, it's a `getting ready' issue,'' said Commissioner Ilene Lieberman.
She said the county needs to be prepared to advocate its position so that any lawsuit can move forward quickly. ''Why should our county have to suffer and lose money when the voters were very clear about what they wanted,'' she asked.
Lieberman said she doesn't want to rush to create regulations, since it's not clear whether the county can legally do that.
Rather, she suggested, and other commissioners agreed, that County Administrator Roger Desjarlais should open discussions with leaders in cities that would host slots -- Dania Beach, Hallandale Beach and Pompano Beach -- about how they want to regulate the gambling machines.
The county attorney, meanwhile, will research case law in Florida and other states. Commissioners left open the possibility of hiring an outside attorney with expertise in constitutional law.
Slots advocates have said that without legislative intervention, the amendment should take effect automatically.
Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday that he believes ``the Legislature has the authority to implement the constitutional amendment. I don't think it's going to be self-executing.''
But, he acknowledged, ``the courts will make that determination.''
To prevent parimutuels from beginning operation without regulations, Fort Lauderdale Republican state Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff last week petitioned the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which oversees gambling, to revoke the license of any site that offers slot payouts.
