When it comes to the difference between electronic bingo machines vs. slot machines, most
people, including gamblers, don't know or care. They couldn't tell Class II vs. Class III,
couldn't explain how one pits a player against other players and the other pits a player
against the house.
The bottom line seems the same: slide in a bill, push a button, hope you get lucky and
something sizable comes out, preferably with many bells and whistles.
Las Vegas has slot machines. The local Indian casinos have electronic bingo machines.
During the next three weeks, the Legislature will decide what type of machines will be
allowed in four Broward County pari-mutuel facilities.
The Senate bill calls for Vegas-style slot machines, which the industry wants and voters
clearly approved. The House bill, deferring to Gov. Jeb Bush, calls for bingo machines.
Either machine will be mandated to pay gamblers 85-93 percent of the money taken in.
So what's the difference?
The biggest is what it means for the Seminole and Miccosukee casinos.
By approving full-fledged slot machines at the pari-mutuels, the state could maneuver its way
into getting a share of Indian casino profits. Since the Indian casinos already exist, and since
the tribes are open to negotiating contracts in exchange for certain benefits, this seems
logical and desirable.
But Bush and some legislators prefer the nonsensical status quo, in which the Indians keep
everything for themselves and are not regulated by the state.
This is how the upcoming slots vs. bingo machine showdown should really be
framed.
If the House version prevails, and the new casinos are limited to electronic bingo machines,
the Indian tribes will likely continue enjoying a free ride on their gambling
operations.
If the Senate version prevails, and true Vegas slots are allowed, it will spur a chain-reaction
that could end with the Indians paying a portion of their gambling proceeds to the
state.
How could anyone be opposed to that?
Inexplicably, the governor is.
So are other legislators whose aversion to gambling is so deep they're willing to forego logic
for morality.
Unlike governors in other states, Florida's chief executives have never had an interest in
negotiating gambling contracts with Indian tribes. Bush has remained steadfast in his
opposition through his two terms.
Just look where it's gotten us. Even without a contract, the Seminoles and Miccosukees are
allowed by federal law to offer forms of gambling already legal in the state. Their casinos
with Class II electronic bingo machines and poker are booming. None of the profit goes to
the state.
The existence of Indian casinos is a big reason why Florida voters passed the slots
amendment last November and why Broward voters approved slots at pari-mutuels last
month.
With all the perceived social costs of casino-style gambling already here, the voters wisely
decided it was time for the state to get into the action.
Voters wanted taxed and regulated slot machines at pari-mutuel facilities. But some also
wanted to force the state's hand in finally coming to a deal with the Indians.
Which is where we are now.
With slot machines approved by voters, the Indian tribes say that they are entitled to Class
III slots no matter what the Legislature decides to give the pari-mutuels. They also argue
they are entitled to all Class III gambling, including table games like blackjack and craps.
Whether the federal and Indian gaming authorities that regulate Indian casinos concur is
another matter, but the state is on a timetable to negotiate in good faith with the tribes.
If Bush and the state remain stubborn, the Indians could win the right to have slots and table
games without a compact. The state would be powerless to stop them.
A high-stakes poker game is now under way and Bush better take a seat at the table before
the state loses big.
Michael Mayo can be reached at mmayo@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4508.
Lawmakers repeat scam of the lottery
M. Edward Triefler
A reader's opinion
Tamarac, FL
Copyright © 2005, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
"We the People …" seems to be a concept that our leaders on the right just don't quite grasp. From Gov. Jeb Bush, who campaigned against the "bullet train," to "gambling," when "We the People" voted for the train and slots, all we've heard from the Republican-controlled Legislature is that we didn't know what we were voting for.
That we didn't have the money for the train and even though the vote for gambling clearly stated Las Vegas-style slots with the money going to improve the state's school system, now they want to limit slots to bingo-type machines and that's if they can't get it stalled so they can bring it back for another vote.
Clearly, the "Scam of the Lottery," where the money was to supplement schools, occurred when our political leaders put the money back into the general fund to pay for more pork, not increasing teacher salaries or building schools as it was billed. It seems history is about to repeat itself.
Now we have Sen. Mel Martinez disseminating misleading information on "talking points" against the Democrats, referencing Terri Schiavo. Then Martinez claims no knowledge of the "talking points" and one of his closest aides falls on his sword. Then we have Senate Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who himself is being investigated for ethics violations, saying that the conservative activist court judges should be impeached because they didn't put the feeding tube back in Terri Schiavo's stomach.
Well, I believe in the old adage, "If it walks like a duck, it stinks!"
"A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring." -- Alexander Pope, "An Essay on Criticism."
LEGISLATURE
Tribes' Vegas-style slots backed
The nation's top Indian gaming regulator told Florida legislators there's no use in trying to limit the style of slot machines because tribes are entitled to the one-armed bandits.
By Mary Ellen Klas
meklas@herald.com
© 2005 Miami Herald
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
TALLAHASSEE - Florida's Miccosukee and Seminole tribes are automatically entitled to Las Vegas-style slot machines at their casinos regardless of how legislators write the rules for Broward County's parimutuels, the chairman of the federal panel that regulates Indian casinos told a Senate committee Monday.
Philip Hogan, chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission, appeared to trump the arguments of Gov. Jeb Bush and House leaders, who have argued that to prevent the Indians from expanding gambling, the state should require the racetracks and jai-alai frontons to use the electronic bingo-style machines already in use at the Seminoles' Hard Rock Casino and Miccosukee's Resort and Gaming Center.
Hogan, a former Department of Interior attorney and member of the Oglala Sioux tribe in South Dakota, told the Senate Regulated Industries Committee that a federal law not only allows the Indians to enter into an agreement, or ''compact'' with the state, but the compact must give them traditional slot games.
His reasoning: Florida voters said Broward and Miami-Dade counties could operate slot machines at their racetracks and jai-alai frontons when they approved Amendment 4 in November, so the Indians are entitled to the same.
Though both types of machines looks similar, the electronic bingo machines' payout is lower than those offered by Vegas-style slots.
Hogan emphasized, however, that because Florida does not authorize other forms of casino games -- such as blackjack, roulette and craps -- Indians would be confined to expand their gaming empire to Las Vegas-style slots, and not other forms of gambling.
''If there was no place to point to in state law, I don't think the state would or could put it in the compact,'' he said.
``That's not to say there might be something else historically in Florida law -- cruises to nowhere or whatever -- that could be relied to give a broader scope of gaming. But this didn't further open the door to anything beyond slot machines in my view.''
Florida legislators have begun drafting the rules for how the slot-machine amendment will be applied, and one of the pivotal questions will be how to define slot machines. The House bill limits them to the kinds of machines already in use at Indian casinos; the Senate version allows the parimutuels to have the Las Vegas-style machines, which are expected to reap as much as an additional one-third more in profits.
Under the provisions in the National Indian Gaming Act, electronic machines that look like slot machines but operate like automated bingo games are considered Class II gambling and do not require Indian tribes to sign a compact with the state. Class III games, such as Vegas-style slots, in which the player plays against the house rather than other players, does require the tribe to enter into a compact.
Bush has been considering defining slot machines at South Florida's parimutuel facilities as Class II machines since late January, nearly a month before Miami-Dade and Broward voters decided whether to allow them.
A grid of options prepared for the governor by his lawyers predicted that ``Indians will request compact for Class III games, although the state may limit that authorized for parimutuels to Class II.''
The document, obtained by The Herald, questioned whether voters ''would be offended that the Legislature did not carry out the intent of the amendment'' with such a scenario but concluded that if there was disagreement, the matter ``will get resolved in Washington.''
Senate committee members took that scenario a step farther Monday when questioning Hogan.
Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, asked what would happen if the governor refused to negotiate a compact with the Indians and the tribes decided to offer Class III slot machines at their casinos without a legal agreement.
''I might have to issue a notice of violation and close their doors,'' Hogan warned, adding that the tribes could request the secretary of the Department of the Interior to intervene. ``I don't think that would be a positive development.''