Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff | Credit: myfloridahouse.gov

• Subject casinos, valued at $2 billion each, in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, to voter approval.
• Seek to close the 1,000 Internet cafes that have opened with little regulation throughout the state by prohibiting “simulated gambling devices” and “simulated gambling displays” that are used to offer sweepstake, bingo, raffle or other prizes instead of cash.
• Allow existing pari-mutuel facilities in Florida to offer slot machines and table games, if approved by county voters. The pari-mutuel would also have to invest at least $100 million on the facility within three years of receiving a limited gaming license.
• Reduce the tax rate on slot machine revenue at pari-mutuels from 35 percent to 18 percent.
• Prohibit new jai alai frontons and racetracks from opening after July 1. The state would have to buy back existing but dormant permits that have been approved.
• Prohibit barrel racing at all but the existing Gretna Racing facility west of Tallahassee where the licensed races started in December. Even there, by July 2013 the voters of Gadsden County would have to agree to keep the races.
• Create a seven-member Florida Gaming Commission, located in Leon County, with members paid $125,000 a year. The chair would receive $135,000. Appointed by the governor, each member would serve four-year terms. To create staggered terms, three members of the first board would receive two-year terms.
• The changes would, by omission, maintain the Florida lottery as a separate entity. Bogdanoff had previously suggested moving the department under the umbrella of the commission.

Bogdanoff has asked members of the Senate Regulated Industries Committee to comment on the changes. The committee has held two meetings on the bill and is expected to take a vote on the proposal shortly after the regular legislative session begins on Jan. 10.

“I believe this strikes a balance,” Bogdanoff stated in the letter to the committee. “I have tried to address our existing businesses, shut down loopholes, substantially reduce the number of locations that offer gaming, and shift the type of gaming to attract international tourists and provide increased economic development through conventions, trade shows and international tourists.

“Last but not least, you will note that every form of gaming in every county will require a referendum,” she added. “Those that argue that the public does or does not want gaming ... the public will have the last word.”

Bogdanoff’s bill, SB 710, initially proposed establishing a statewide gaming commission and allowing the construction of three mega-casinos that would be required to pay 10 percent of revenue to the state.

The bill has received criticism from members of the committee for failing to tackle growing Internet cafe businesses, where “sweepstakes” are offered as substitutes for cash prizes, and complaints from existing pari-mutuel operators that pay 35 percent of their revenue to the state.

The bill, with its House companion HB 487, sponsored by Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami, is also opposed by large sectors of the business community, including Disney, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and the Florida Seminoles.

The tribe has a compact with the state that limits gaming options the Seminoles can offer at casinos in Florida, while paying at least $250 million to the state  in exchange for the state limiting where slot machines and other Las Vegas-style games are allowed.