Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Florida Slots Dealt Big Blow

This story appeared in the August 9 edition of the Miami Herald and was written by Gary fineout and Marc Caputo

Broward slots dealt major blow by court Backers of slot machines in Broward County were dealt a setback Tuesday by a court ruling that will give opponents a chance to argue that the 2004 amendment that led to slots should have never made the ballot.
Concerned that dead people and phantom voters may have signed petitions to force a slot-machine vote, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday that a lower court should throw out the constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2004 if it can be proved that election law was broken.

The 2-1 decision by the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee could deal a crippling blow to the four parimutuel facilities in Broward County that were banking on the slot machines. State voters approved the amendment in 2004, leading to slot referendums in Broward and Miami-Dade the following spring. Broward voters said yes, though Miami-Dade voters rejected the proposal.

''It is clear that a favorable popular vote cannot cure deception,'' the appeals court said.

The ruling could affect not only the Broward parimutuels but also the three cities hoping to share in the good times from the parimutuels; public schools, which were supposed to get tens of millions of dollars in new slot money; and the agreement that the state is negotiating with Indian tribes seeking the same Las Vegas-style slot machines.

Slots opponents, who include Gov. Jeb Bush and animal-rights groups opposed to greyhound and horse racing, hailed Tuesday's ruling. Both appeals judges on the prevailing side were Bush appointees.

''Today's ruling gives us hope that the concerns about fraudulent signature gathering -- including dead people signing petitions -- during the petitioning process for the slots measure will be examined by the courts,'' Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States, one of the plaintiffs, said in a statement.

Slots proponents can appeal for a hearing before the entire appeals court, take the case to the state Supreme Court or take their chances in the Leon County trial court, to which the case was sent by the appeal judges Tuesday.

Pacelle called on the four parimutuels to voluntarily suspend their plans for slot machines until the case is resolved. But that isn't likely.

GOING FORWARD
Dan Adkins, vice president of Mardi Gras Racetrack & Gaming Center, said the track has already spent more than $20 million on construction and has started hiring employees in anticipation of getting slot machines at the former Hollywood Greyhound Track by late September or early October. He said that slots backers would ask for the entire appeals court to review Tuesday's decision.

''We're absolutely planning on going forward,'' Adkins said. ``We believe there's a constitutional amendment on the books. . . . We feel the voters have spoken.''

That stance was echoed by other parimutuels.

''Our attorneys, I'm sure, will be looking into this matter,'' said Steve Wolf, senior director of racing operations at Pompano Park. ``We've overcome every hurdle that's been thrown in our path, and just let the election results stand on their own. The people want to have the slot machines.''

Pompano Park has spent more than $60 million on construction to make way for the slot machines. ''We're into this big time. We're going ahead,'' Wolf said.

The lawsuit that could derail all those plans was first filed in September 2004 by animal-rights groups and Floridians Against Expanded Gambling. The lawsuit claimed that the group hired by Floridians for a Level Playing Field to collect the nearly 500,000 signatures needed to put the amendment on the ballot committed widespread fraud, saying petition gatherers forged signatures and used fake names on petitions.

Slot opponents said they had called thousands of Broward County voters who told them they never signed the petition, even though their signatures were allegedly collected. The group also said it found the names of 33 people in Broward who were dead at the time of the petition signing.

A Leon County judge acknowledged the seriousness of the allegations at the time but refused to rule before Election Day. After the election, Circuit Judge Nikki Clark ruled that voter approval of the amendment had ''cured'' any problems that might have occurred in gathering the signatures. As part of their legal strategy, slot proponents did not dispute the allegations of fraud.

DISAGREEMENT
But two appeals court judges -- Ricky Polston and Paul Hawkes -- disagreed with the trial judge in their unsigned opinion, saying it was wrong to let voters cast a ballot on an amendment if widespread fraud was used to get the measure before voters. The judges ordered a new trial in Leon County and said if fraud is proven, ``the trial court should declare the slots initiative invalid.''

Chief Judge Charles Kahn dissented from the ruling, saying it would set a new precedent. He said that since there are no allegations that voters were misled about what the amendment did, it should be left intact.