31
Dec
SoFL Airport Loses Bid to Host Casino Slot Machines Part I
Author: Chris // Category: Online Casino NewsMiami International Airport is in a bind. They are mounting up debt and are strapped for cash. The South Florida Airport has undergone extensive and much needed renovations and now the operating cost, including debt service, is reaching $600 million. It is also projected to reach $1.1 billion by the year 2015. MIA officials have been brooding over several options in an attempt to help generate much needed revenue for the maligned, yet busy, airport. The latest was an “out of the box’ idea as stated by Miami-Dade County Commissioner Carlos Gimenez. Miami International Airport wanted to house the popular gambling activity of slot machines.
Anyone who has flown into Las Vegas knows the second you step out of the plane you can begin gambling by throwing a buck or two in a slot machine while you wait for your bags. It seems like a good idea. Passengers are either bored or delayed, and this is entertainment. The idea is a little different in Florida where gambling laws are not as liberal as Nevada. In order for the airport to host slot machines they needed to exploit a loophole in the state’s parimutuel laws. In Florida, race tracks area allowed to apply for a permit to have lottery style slot machines. All MIA had to do was prove that they were in the horse racing business. They did their best. After much debate the took the notion that they could quarter horse racing at one of the nearby tracks.
Unfortunately, some of the other gambling institutions in the area took exception to the proposal and tried to drown the idea before it got started. “We feel that we’ve been negatively impacted by just the aura of putting slot machines at MIA,” said President of Flagler Dog Track, and Magic City Casino, Barbara Hecht Havenick. She, and others like her, feel that banks are won’t lend money to their business if there is too much competition. Havenick’s properties are trying to complete some renovations. Debates in Miami-Dade County were heated, but at the end of the day a 9-3 vote passed the application on to the state government in Tallahassee…to be continued…
