Almost the entire notion of gambling at Miami International Airport was grounded, however, when the Florida rejected the application for a parimutuel license. The official word from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation spokesperson, Jenn Meale, stated, “All requirements must be met in order to be issued a permit, and in this case, three requirements were not met.” Without the parimutuel license the airport will not be able to apply for a slot license. Airport officials were hoping to bring in as much as $17 million a year from passengers waiting at the airport.

For starters, state officials could not qualify Miami International Airport as a “person.” It is a technicality and a shaky one at that, but gambling is not an activity governments in the United States take lightly. Lightly or not Marc Dunbar, a gaming lobbyist who was hired by the county, found that idea to be silly. He sited a memo from the Florida Attorney General’s office that found governments would “likely” qualify for licenses like the one MIA was applying for.

Qualifying as a person was not the only obstacle MIA could not clear. State officials wanted the gambling operation to be set up and active within one year. This was a deadline the airport could not commit to. The favorite reason was, even though officials claimed they could host racing activity in remote locations, they could not prove they could host the required racing onsite if they need became apparent. (Imagine: “This is your captain speaking, if you look out the right side of the aircraft you’ll see Peanut Butter has a 2 length lead over Barbershop Pony entering the stretch.”)

Dunbar thinks the state’s ruling has a hidden agenda or outside influences. “Something other than parimutuel law and past agency practices appear to have motivated this decision,” he said. He strongly felt there was an inconsistency and a “level of arbitrariness” is the ruling over gambling at MIA. Still most in Miami-Dade County felt the idea was a long shot and easily gave in. So, for now, Miamians who want to buy a plane ticket so they can gamble will have to buy a ticket and make it all the way to Nevada.

Tags: casino, gambling, online