Senate authorizes Florida gambling expansion | IXGAMES
The Senate Committee authorized $1 billion in expanded gambling in Florida, allowing the governor to negotiate a compact with the Seminoles that gives them roulette wheels and craps tables and gives lighter-fare games to horse and dog tracks around the state. Committee members did not debate before unanimously approving the proposal to give the state’s 25 parimutuel facilities new gaming options. On the plan to give the Seminole Tribe full-fledged casinos, only Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-West Palm Beach, voted no. The two proposals, which are designed to move through the process in tandem, also would lower the legal gambling age from 21 to 18 and give parimutuels outside Miami-Dade and Broward counties the option to run electronic slot machines that pit players against each other. 
The Senate bill also would reduce the tax rate on slot machine gaming from 50 percent to 35 percent and provide that the payout be no less than 85 percent at all facilities. The House also will propose relief for the state’s nontribal gaming industries. But it’s unlikely to reach as far as the Senate, which, among other things, has proposed lowering the minimum age for playing some casino games from 21 to 18. Regards
