Oh, what a surprise! Slot machines to solve budget deficits in Miami? ... by gimleteye

Oh, what a surprise: I had the same reaction as the comic John Stewart to news that former Vice President Dick Cheney had withheld from Congress a secret plan to assassinate terrorist leaders: It is along the same line of resignation and irony that news arrives of a plan to put slot machines at Miami International Airport, to help "make up" for its massive cost overruns and debt burden.

It would seem that Miami might have better ideas than to emulate the path of Las Vegas; the region whose cratered housing markets so closely resemble ours. There, the illusion of wealth from a gaming economy provided cover for its own Growth Machine that, like Miami, also relies on water appropriated from outside its borders. Perhaps the comparison with Las Vegas is beside the point.

The floating of the hatched plan echoed, in all places, the Florida Keys. There, former Miami-Dade water czar and now Monroe County manager Roman Gastesi provoked county commissioners with "off-the-cuff" remarks that slot machines might be appropriate for the future of Keys airports, too. Something is going on. Maybe it ties up with Jose "Pepe" Diaz' little mobile home park in Key Largo aka Calusa Casino. We haven't yet seen the faces and names of who is behind this gambit to put slot machines at MIA, but I'll bet a million bucks they've been featured on our blog.

These connections-- the cratered economy, the foreclosures whip-sawing neighborhoods, the hair-brained schemes to get out of Dodge by making Miami more like Las Vegas-- or Riverboat Mississippi--make you wonder if this whole recession/depression wasn't engineered for this outcome. The only better play than rigging the system is chaos, because chaos provides opportunities to those closest to the source of the turbulence.

With news that Goldman Sachs reported the biggest earnings quarter in its history-- while everyone else in America if flat on their backs, scared to death there is no Plan B-- you have to believe that the plan for slot machines at MIA is just another effort to squeeze the last quarters from visitors and residents of South Florida. It is fairly certain that once Cuba opens, Miami and Key West will not even be pass-through destinations. And if that is the case, maybe the better comparison to where slot machines lead us is not Las Vegas but Havana: 1950.

After filing like cattle through Homeland Security and before filing down airplane gangways like cattle in chutes, why not put a few slot machines in the way of consumers who otherwise behave as cattle. Passive, dumb, returning the same unreformable majorities and state legislators to office, term after term: we're cattle being fed for something: isn't that the truth?


Gambling at the airport?
County Administrator talking about casino in Key West
By RYAN McCARTHY
rmccarthy@keynoter.com
Posted - Saturday, July 11, 2009 11:01 AM EDT
Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi says he's had discussions with Naval Air Station Key West officials, as well as with State Rep. Ron Saunders, about the possibility of a gambling casino in the Keys.

But Gastesi told the Keynoter the discussions were brief and that the idea was never seriously pursued.

"There is nothing there. I talked to the Navy about the joint use and that was it. There is no movement in that direction," he said.

The joint use Gastesi referred to is a 1995 study by county consultant URS examining a one-year experiment to operate large charter services out of Naval Air Station Key West on Boca Chica Key.

"They turned us down flat. We put $50,000 of 1995 money into it," county Airports Director Peter Horton said, noting no Navy base in the country allows joint use.

But confusion arose this week when County Commissioner Kim Wigington was interviewed by U.S. 1 Radio broadcaster Bill Becker on Thursday about gambling and said Gastesi had brought the topic of gambling at a meeting.

Wednesday, Gastesi told Becker that he hadn't heard any talk of bringing gambling to the Keys. But Wigington told the Keynoter she has personally discussed the idea with the administrator.

"One-on-one he's mentioned using the new airport for a gaming center and that led to seeing if the Navy base can be used for joint use. Then in Tallahassee he brought it up to [State Rep. Ron] Saunders, lobbyists and several others," Wigington said, referring to a May trip to the state capital.

"I would be opposed to anything like that and I feel the community would be strongly opposed. Someone who cares about the Keys and the community would most likely be opposed to this. We have so much to do, it's not even worth spending staff time on it," she said.

"I'm going to clear it up with Becker. I thought he was asking me if there was any movement on it," Gastesi said.

County Mayor George Neugent agreed with Wigington. He said he's heard talks of the idea but hasn't discussed it with Gastesi.

"A gambling casino at the Key West International Airport...I don't know how to respond. How do you think the rest of the people in the Keys are going to respond to that? Everyone's going to fly into Key West and give all the (other) communities traffic and [Key West] gets the casino and the dollars. It's not something I hope my county administrator is spending too much time on," Neugent said.

Asked if any staff time has been spent exploring the issue, Gastesi said, "Absolutely not. I asked a few people and that is it."

According to Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation spokesperson Alexis Lambert, there are a total of 26 pari-mutuel facilities in the state that allow betting on dog and horseracing and jai alai. Three of those, all in Miami-Dade or Broward counties, also allow slot machines.


Posted on Tue, Jun. 30, 2009
Could slot machines be on their way to Miami International Airport?

BY MATTHEW HAGGMAN AND MICHAEL VASQUEZ
mhaggman@MiamiHerald.com

Are slot machines a cure for Miami International Airport's financial woes?
Miami-Dade County leaders think they could be.

On Tuesday, Miami-Dade commissioners voted to allow the county manager to immediately seek a permit that would give the county the ability to apply for a slot machine license from state officials.

The move came at the urging of the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, which is scrambling for new revenue sources to plug giant anticipated deficits. The surprise move triggered instant reaction, much of it critical.

Airport officials said quick action is required because the laws governing gambling in Florida are set to change with final approval of the gaming compact between the state and the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

''The window of opportunity may close shortly,'' said Miguel Southwell, deputy aviation director. ``It doesn't mean we would do it, but we would like to have the option.''

The county's decision to pursue slot machines at MIA is sure to become a hot-button issue, reigniting the debate about where gaming should be made available in Miami-Dade -- and who should house it.

''There is tremendous sensitivity to the concerns of the law of unintended consequences when the county becomes competitors with the private sector,'' said lobbyist Ron Book, who represents Flagler Dog Track and Entertainment Center in Miami.

The county's proposal calls for slot machines beyond security checkpoints at MIA, which supporters hope would lure travelers to gamble -- and pad airport coffers -- while waiting for flights. Under the permit, the county would also have to strike an agreement to run quarterhorse races off site.

The proposal is one of several County Manager George Burgess spelled out in a memo detailing possible ways to curb the financial straits MIA finds itself in.

MIA's annual operating cost, including debt service, has reached $600 million, Burgess said -- and will skyrocket to $1.1 billion by 2015 because of debt associated with airport construction and rising operating costs.

''This increase will demand that the Miami-Dade Aviation Department raise a staggering $500 million more each year,'' he wrote to county commissioners.

Calling it ''crucial'' that MIA raise money from sources other than airlines, Burgess pitched a mix of public-private partnerships and business ventures. The slot machine idea, he wrote, could raise $17 million a year.

Commissioners voted 8-3 in support of the measure, but several said the issue is subject to another vote and remain undecided if they will ultimately support slots.

Chairman Dennis Moss was joined by commissioners Carlos A. Gimenez, Sally Heyman, Javier D. Souto, Dorrin D. Rolle, Barbara Jordan, Jose ''Pepe'' Diaz and Bruno Barreiro.

''I like out of the box thinking,'' Gimenez said. ``I would like to have the option to look at it because we want to remain competitive.''

Voting against: Commissioners Katy Sorenson, Audrey Edmonson and Natacha Seijas. Rebeca Sosa and Joe Martinez were absent.

Seijas said she, too, likes ``the idea of thinking outside the box.''

''But this is opening a Pandora's Box,'' she said.

Miami-Dade's move -- which seeks to exploit a loophole in state law -- would put local government in direct competition with tribal casinos and pari-mutuels, two of which are located within close proximity to the airport.

A loophole tucked into a 2008 state parimutuel law allowed for the issuance of quarter-horse permits -- a less-glamorous, sprint-like form of horse racing not seen in Florida for more than a decade. Hialeah Park latched onto such a permit as a way to reopen, and the Legislature this year granted local quarter-horse permit holders the right to also add slots. The provision was meant to benefit solely Hialeah Park, though Miami-Dade County could wind up profiting as well.

Perhaps more importantly, the county's action might encourage other casino interests to apply for their own quarter-horse permits -- with the real motivation to open a slots parlor. Just like under the county's proposal, running horse races would be an afterthought, and could happen off-site at a leased property somewhere.

''If the airport is able to do it, what's to stop the Fontainebleau from doing it?'' asked state Rep. Esteban Bovo.

Bovo, a Hialeah Republican who said he hadn't yet taken a position on the county's move, was heavily involved in bringing horse racing back to historic Hialeah Park during the recent legislative session.

Hialeah Park took advantage of the same loophole, though there is a difference: Hialeah Park has a decades-long history of gambling, and track owners intend to run quarter-horse races on-site.

Bovo cautioned that just because Miami-Dade applies for a horse-racing permit does not guarantee it will be awarded one by the state.

There is also the possibility that, even if Miami-Dade received its permit, the Legislature could change the rules governing slots the next time it convenes, potentially thwarting the county's plans.

Miami state Rep. Julio Robaina, generally a pro-gambling lawmaker, said he could not support adding slots to MIA. The Republican called it ''in-your-face'' gambling, as opposed to casinos that require gamblers to intentionally make a trip to wager.

''Next thing it will be in a supermarket, in a mall,'' Robaina said. ``This is not something that I think would be beneficial to a community.''

MIA has long faced scrutiny, from contracts that aided political insiders to blistering customer surveys. Several years ago, a push was launched to take the airport away from politicians and hand it to an independent board. Airport officials say they have worked to reverse those headaches, and that a decades-long expansion is improving service.

But money woes continue, and county officials say they have no choice but to move aggressively. They also say other airports -- such as in Las Vegas and Reno -- have long had slots and that Baltimore and Phoenix are considering them.

MIA's rising costs have already put it at a competitive disadvantage. Currently, it costs an airline $17 to board a passenger at MIA while at airports like Atlanta and Fort Lauderdale it costs only $4. By 2015, MIA's figure could reach nearly $26.



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