Volusia County Council to discuss slot machines Feb. 9

BEACON PHOTO/PAT ANDREWS
Making a request — Daytona Beach Kennel Club & Poker Room General Manager Dan Francati asks the County Council to approve asking voters whether slot machines should be allowed at the Kennel Club, if permission is given by the Florida Legislature.

By Pat Andrews
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Feb 9, 2012 - 6:54:42am

Volusia County residents need a little more time to think about whether they want to vote this fall on allowing slot machines at pari-mutuel facilities, the County Council decided Feb. 2.

At the last minute Jan. 31, at the request of the Daytona Beach Kennel Club & Poker Room, the council had added the gambling item to its Feb. 2 meeting agenda.

Only one citizen showed up to talk about it, and the big rush bothered some County Council members.

A bill being considered in the Florida Legislature would allow counties to hold referendums on allowing slots at dog tracks like the one in Daytona Beach, but only if the matter was added to the county’s meeting agenda no later than Jan. 31.

In a letter dated Jan. 31, the Kennel Club & Poker Room asked the county to do so, “to preserve the right for Volusia County residents to vote on the issue.”

At the meeting, however, council members balked.

At-Large Council Member Joyce Cusack pointed out that the bill hasn’t even been presented to the Florida House or Florida Senate in its final form.

Council Member Pat Northey agreed.

“Bad politics in Tallahassee should not result in bad politics in Volusia County,” Northey said.

To further complicate matters, the Florida appeals-court decision that gave the Legislature the authority to approve slot machines statewide is being appealed to the Florida Supreme Court.

County Chair Frank Bruno explained why he rushed to put the item on the Feb. 2 agenda. He had felt uncomfortable with the short notice, he said, but didn’t think it should have been his decision alone to close the door on the possibility of a referendum.

Bruno crafted a solution by not actually adjourning the Feb. 2 meeting, but calling for a recess, instead. The meeting will resume at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, and discussion of the referendum on slots will resume then, too.

Several gambling proposals are working their way through the Florida Legislature, which is in regular session this year Jan. 10-March 9.

On Feb. 3, a Florida House subcommittee tabled a bill that would have allowed three mega-casinos to open in South Florida. With no more subcommittee meetings scheduled this session, that bill is effectively dead — for now.

The bill that would give counties the authority to allow slot machines in pari-mutuel operations, however, was still alive in a Senate subcommittee.

After meeting Feb. 3 with County Attorney Dan Eckert, Bruno said the referendum item is also still alive for the Thursday, Feb. 9, County Council meeting.

“It could still change between now and next Thursday,” Bruno said.

Senate backing for the plan could die, with the House bill tabled.

Even so, the referendum matter has been advertised for the Feb. 9 meeting, and the meeting will still open with that item, even if the associated legislation is killed. The discussion time will give Volusia County residents the chance to weigh in on gambling expansions, Bruno said.

DeLandite Dan Eriksen was the only member of the public to address the County Council about the resolution Feb. 2.

Eriksen said that while many people might view it as an opportunity to increase tax revenues, he and his family “oppose any expansion of gambling, period.”

Gambling operates on the premise that people lose money, he said, warning that Daytona Beach would become like Atlantic City, N.J., where crime and prostitution significantly increased after gambling came in, and urban blight proliferated just a short distance from the casinos.

Putting gambling on the ballot would indicate the County Council’s support, Eriksen said.

Council Member Joie Alexander disagreed. She said approving a resolution calling for a referendum wouldn’t mean the County Council supports the proposal, only that the council supports letting voters decide. It would be the public who would make the decision, Alexander said.

Council Member Andy Kelly, who had to miss the gambling discussion because of his wife’s surgery, said he would have voted against the referendum proposal.

“I certainly do not support the possibilities of adding casinos or other forms of gambling,” Kelly said.

He said gambling entices people who are going through hard times to spend their last few dollars to “try to win the big bucks” instead of paying their bills.

“I’ve seen it,” Kelly said.

He also expressed concern that gambling interests would overwhelm the county with a well-financed campaign for votes to OK gambling.

“Those like me, who are against it, would have to mount a grass-roots effort with little money to fight it,” Kelly said.

The Feb. 9 County Council meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. in County Council Chambers in the Thomas C. Kelly County Administration Center, 123 W. Indiana Ave. in DeLand.

— pat@beacononlinenews.com

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