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A Times Editorial
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 19, 2003
Ten years ago, the Port Richey City Council rejected turning its city into a haven for commercial bingo halls. On a 3-2 vote, the council turned down a plan to circumvent Pasco County's tough bingo controls and permit seven-day-a-week games that would have diminished a valuable fundraising tool for local charities.
Just over five months ago, the City Council, with little scrutiny, adopted a new ordinance, which, unfortunately, does just that.
It paved the way for the Kolokithas family, owners of the day cruise gambling boats, Port Richey Casinos, to operate marathon bingo sessions -- twice a day, seven days a week -- at the Ridge Road building the family purchased for $1-million.
So what changed? The influence of gambling maven Molly Kolokithas. Formerly at odds with the city, Kolokithas changed her tactics last year, hiring former Mayor James Carter as a lobbyist and spreading cash around the city. After the bingo ordinance was approved, Kolokithas contributed $10,000 to dredge the city canals, a pet project of council member Dale Massad, and sent $4,000 to the citizens group, Pride in Port Richey, founded by council member Pat Guttman. Kolokithas also is underwriting the cost of the recently revitalized city newsletter, and assigned Carter to handle the editorial copy.
Good will comes with a price tag. In this case, it followed an ordinance crafted by a Kolokithas' employee, Carter, to benefit one entity, the family's newly formed for-profit corporation, AMBAS Holdings Inc.
(Last week, Kolokithas introduced another of her affiliates to the public: James Kokott, the man who will run her bingo operation. He is listed in state records as the registered agent for an inactive North Florida for-profit bingo venture, Chipley's Finest Bingo Inc., the director for which is the owner of a pair of topless dance clubs in Panama City.)
Bingo is big in Pasco County. Over a typical 12-month period, the licensed charitable halls can draw 450,000 players spending an average of $17.60, for a nearly $10-million gross. More than $7-million is given back in prizes, about $1-million spent on overhead, and about $1.6-million turned over to charities. No wonder Kolokithas wants a piece of the action.
Mayor Eloise Taylor said the rewritten city ordinance was pitched last summer as a way to avoid costly oversight provisions in the county rules. Funny how that became problematic after a dozen years. Nobody on the council requested the proposal during a public meeting, and only after the vote did Kolokithas announce her plans to operate a bingo hall. Taylor said Carter later volunteered that he wrote most of the ordinance.
It is understandable if Taylor feels remiss and wants to make amends. The mayor said she plans to ask the council to revoke the city ordinance and return to the county rules. The council should follow her lead.
The city staff also must be accountable for any subterfuge that played a part in the presentation of the ordinance to the council. Guttman, in particular, should explain her vote. She is the only council member remaining from 10 years ago. Then, she voted with the majority to maintain the tougher rules intended to keep commercial bingo halls from monopolizing the market.
That is what prompted Pasco to begin its controls in 1991. Small operators complained the large halls with nearly nonstop games were luring away customers and giving only token donations to sponsoring charities. The county regulations limit games at a single location to twice a week and include bookkeeping requirements.
Today, Pasco County has 70 registered charitable bingo halls that average 50 or more players. Proceeds are returned to the community. The Aripeka Elks Lodge 2520 in Hudson is a good example. In December, it donated to eight charities a total of $12,000, all generated from its own bingo games.
Though the Kolokithas hall will operate as Port Richey Charitable Bingo, there is no guarantee how much money will remain with the hall and how much will be returned to the community. The city's ordinance does not include the bookkeeping provisions required by the county.
In the past, commercial operators made a small contribution in exchange for using the nonprofit's name. Or, they leased the hall and equipment at exorbitant prices.
Some charities originally welcomed the arrangement because it meant a donation, no matter how small, to their treasury. But officials now tell the story of one agency increasing its annual bingo revenue fivefold to more than $220,000 after it cut its ties to a commercial bingo hall and operated its own games. That is a sizable contribution to benefit children, the needy and the homeless. Port Richey can ensure that type of charitable work continues, or it can allow its loophole ordinance to fatten an existing gambling enterprise. The answer is obvious: The Port Richey Council should say no to unregulated, seven-day-a-week bingo.