Senate agrees to expand poker play in Florida
Poker-playing in Florida card rooms would be allowed around-the-clock on the weekend and 18 hours a day during the week under a measure that has made its way through the state Senate but is so far at a standstill in the House.
The measure would also allow poker rooms to host two high-stakes, televised poker tournaments a year, similar to the popular “World Poker Tour” show, along with celebrity charity tournaments six times a year.
But anti-gambling groups say it’s another step toward unbridled, Las Vegas-style gaming, bringing with it the promise of more crime and bankruptcy.
The expanded hours were approved as part of a larger pari-mutuel measure in the Senate last week but the tournament provision has yet to hit the Senate floor.
Senate sponsor and Senate Minority Leader Steve Geller, a Democrat from Hallandale Beach, pointed to the expanded hours on Indian reservations and in slot rooms in Broward County.
“It doesn’t make sense - the slot machines are open longer than the poker rooms,” Geller said. “You’re packed and then you’re closed.”
Card rooms not on Indian reservations are now allowed to be open just 12 hours every day.
The tournaments - with a $10,000 buy-in, the same size as the World Series of Poker held every year in Las Vegas - are a natural, he said.
“You can’t turn on TV any time without seeing these televised poker tournaments,” Geller said. “Where would you prefer to go, Connecticut in January, or Florida?” The legislation would boost already big business at the Palm Beach Kennel Club, the busiest poker room in the state.
At the current rate, the club will rake in $10.2 million in gross revenue from its card room by the end of the fiscal year in June - up 22 percent from last year. This year has been the first with poker games that have no betting limit, up from the previous limit of $2 per bet with three raises allowed each betting round.
Tom Grey, president of the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion, said Florida is marching toward gambling with no parameters at all.
“This is a further sign of gambling influencing your legislator,” he said. “This isn’t going to end. After they do this, what do they do next?” Since 2000, pari-mutuel businesses have donated $5.7 million to state political parties and individual campaigns, both Democratic and Republican alike, state records show - with the Palm Beach Kennel Club giving more than $900,000 over that time.
House Speaker Marco Rubio has opposed gambling expansion and the measure has gone nowhere in his chamber. Democratic sponsor, Rep. Joe Gibbons of Hallandale Beach, said the measure is needed to keep up with the reservations and their glitzy resorts.
“They have destinations,” Gibbons said. “Already, our pari-mutuels are far behind.”
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