Cha-Ching! Flagler Dog Track
Makes Way for Shiny New Slots

At the Magic City Casino, there'll be more than just gambling on Greyhounds

©Miramar WTVJ NBC (CH 6)
Miami-Dade Area
Thursday, September 03, 2009

I'ts a big day at Flagler Dog Track.

700 slot machines arrived today thanks to Miami-Dade voters, who OK'd Vegas-Style slots for the three local pari-mutuels - the first time ever legal slots will be allowed in Miami-Dade.

The Havenick family, who owns Flagler Dog Track and a dog operation near Naples, is converting the dog track stadium into an outdoor entertainment center. The old stands will be an amphitheater.

All in all it's a $54 renovation that will create 800 jobs.

"We want to bring Flagler and this area back to the prominence it deserves," said Barbara Havenick.

Despite the smiles today, there is not an easy road ahead.

"We believe the compact is a bad deal for the State of Florida," argued Izzy Havenick.

The new revised Indian gaming compact, which must pass legislative muster, allows the Seminole tribe exclusive Vegas slots and blackjack on their reservations. And if slots are expanded to pari-mutuels outside Miami-Dade and Broward counties, the Seminoles would no longer be liable for the $150 million a year they will pay for exclusivity.

"It also ties our hands for the future expansion of gaming and puts out of business paramutuals outside of Dade and Broward," added Havenick, who said he will go to the legislature and suggest multiple changes to the compact.

The Havenicks would benefit under the new compact because the state tax on slots drops from 50 to 35 percent, which will give slot owners some breathing room.

Dog racing will continue, but the Flagler Dog Track is now part of the Magic City Casino, and that will open some time in October.