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Ignore slots and they'll go untaxed

Tired of waiting for lawmakers to follow the law, a Broward judge has now opened the door for slot machines in Florida. Yet lawmakers seem surprisingly unmoved.

Nearly a year after voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing slot machines and directing the Legislature to write a law by July 1, the deadline has come and gone. Lawmakers are playing a game with increasingly bad odds.

Broward County commissioners already have hired a consultant to write their own slot regulations for the three race tracks and one jai-alai fronton there that are authorized to install the machines. Last week, Broward Circuit Judge Leroy Moe ruled that the parimutuel facilities no longer need to wait on state or county regulation; they can start the slots rolling any time they wish.

In the Capitol, meanwhile, legislative leaders are hinting they may call a special session in October or November. Or they may not. It depends, they say, on whether they can reach agreement on how to regulate and tax the machines. Never mind what the judge says or, for that matter, what the Constitution demands.

Gov. Jeb Bush and the Legislature need to recognize they are playing a losing hand. Slots, unfortunately, are coming to Florida. In November, voters statewide gave general authorization, and, in March, voters in Broward agreed to let the parimutuel facilities there install them. That said, the state can make sure the gaming operations are above board and that the public gets its own share of the pot.

The longer lawmakers wait, the less leverage they will have to impose the kinds of tax rates - two Maryland researchers recommend 74 percent - that are appropriate for the high-margin slot machine operations. The longer the governor takes in his negotiations with Indian tribes, the less leverage he will have to force the tribes to contribute a similar amount to the public. After all, under established federal law, the tribes will get to offer any form of gambling that is permissible in the states in which its reservations are located.

Dennis Jones, chairman of the Senate Regulated Industries Committee, makes the pragmatic point about the job ahead. "I'm not a gambler myself," he says, "but we're going to have slot machines. Every month we delay, we're losing revenue that could go to classroom teachers and education."

The same governor and legislative leaders who are wincing about the costs of shrinking overcrowded classrooms have a ready source of money available, a source that voters insisted go toward public education. So why are they still waiting to get the job done?

[Last modified August 31, 2005, 01:21:25]