Florida Republican Senator Introduces Bill to Boost Gambling Expansion

Igoglia introduced SB 1054: Pari-mutuel Permitholders, according to records. The Republican legislator represents District 11, Citrus, Hernando and Sumter counties, and a northern area of Pasco County. The bill aims to eliminate “a requirement that certain holders show that their permits have not been disapproved or revoked in subsequent elections by filing annual applications with the Florida Gaming Control Commission,” a five-member regulatory body. members.

Governor Ron DeSantis reappointed attorney Julie Imanuel Brown as FGCC commissioner on May 6. The other four game regulators are John D'Aquila, accountant; Charles Drago, retired police chief; Tina Repp, retired FBI agent; and Louis Trombetta, attorney and gaming law expert.

The bill Ingoglia introduced also aims to authorize “greyhound dog racing permit holders to relocate if specific conditions are met.” Nearly 70% of voters in the November 2018 election favored amending the state constitution to ban dog racing in 2020.

The bill would also require “that a slot machine gaming area of a relocated pari-mutuel facility”—a betting pool in which those who bet on competitors who finish in the top 3 places share in the winnings—“be in the location for which the relocation is authorized.”

The bill would tie the hands of municipalities, as it states “that pari-mutuel facilities relocated in accordance with the law shall not be subject to municipal restrictions on the establishment of gambling halls, etc.”

If you feared that this law, if approved, could affect Miami Beach.The owner of the new hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip is billionaire Jeffrey Soffer. The new 67-story tower, the second tallest in Las Vegas, is a tribute to the history of Miami Beach's Fontainebleau, opened in 1954 and acquired by the Soffer family in 2005.
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