In a lot of ways though the state of Florida has one-up on other states though. The state of Florida already has a great tourist market and putting slots in could bring up that market and increase the dollars they contribute to them. There is a heavy tourist market for the state that loves to take advantage of the beautiful weather and the other attractions it has built over the years. If state legislators expand their gambling market in the state it could bring in huge dollars by capitalziing on that huge customer base of tourists. People are already used to picking Florida as their vacation hot-spot and coming to the state in search of a great get-a-way for the entire family. What better way to expand than to now offer them gambling choices and plenty of affordable slots games?

The state’s legislators believe that they have a great shot at building on that tourist market already. They know if they create premiere gambling most likely the tourists who are coming in will take advantage of them much like they gamble in locations like Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Remember that every dollar that a casino brings in is taxed and the state they are in benefits greatly due to them. This is why legislators are so ready to bring in more slots when they can and the Lake Worth Casino is the perfect location to try to expand on. Expect the changes to start happening in the coming weeks and bring some of the best slots games in. The market is still developing but already two different locations in the state are working with legalized gambling rules. The signs are pointing to “yes” in terms of further developing the gaming market. Developers are ready to move in on any tourist area and showcase the best of their gaming fun. They know that they have a huge ability to entertain more gamers than ever if they continue to push for more expansion. You can expect in coming years you are going to see more casinos and slot parlor set up in the state and legislators should be sitting pretty soon.

Right now there is a grand shift in the US slots gaming market. If you asked someone where the best slots games were a few years ago they would inevitably tell you to head to Las Vegas or to Atlantic City. These two locations hands down held the big corner of the market in the US and had no serious contenders…until the recession. The recession shook up the entire market and brought both Atlantic City and Las Vegas down a few financial notches. Now they are no longer the leaders in the market and having a hard time reviving themselves. That leaves the door open for other markets to move in though and those other markets are not taking the open door lightly. One state that is making a huge play for the leader in slots gambling that is left open is Florida. The state already has opened the door for gambling in various cities and now is seemingly making a play for a gambling Mecca in the US. In Lake Worth Florida the Lake Worth Municipal Casino Building is going through major renovations to make it an even bigger gambling center with a massive amount of slots games for gamers to play on. This move is part of the gambling expansion that Florida lawmakers are pushing for. They realize full well how much fun people have on the games and how they are more than willing to continue to pay for them if they are great games. The casino market in the state is growing quickly and with this massive renovation, lawmakers could be creating the next “big thing” in slots gaming.

Don’t think that all state legislators have their eyes on moving into the “top gambling center of the US”. They realize better than everyone how much money is at stake and how they can generate huge dollars if they play their proverbial cards right with the gambling situation. Overall it is a huge benefit for states and finding ways of implementing a good plan is one that lawmakers are in desperate search of. This is common with all states, but Florida is making a formal play for the top position.

Part two coming next.

In Florida there are still some issues with slots gaming. This time it is the fruit slots games that are causing some controversy. At a small location called Café Raul you can play the machines for one-dollar at a time. The games look like slots and operate like them, but they pay out free games or extra time to play. There is no transaction involving money other then the gamer putting in his or hers. The owner of the establishment is stating that the games are a far cry from the high-payout casino games that legislators are debating over right now. Sure they are in the midst of changing laws regarding them, but the games here don’t pay out any cash rewards. This is what the owner claims set them apart from gambling games. The police department of Miami disagrees though.

In October of last year the police force descended on the café to seize 10 similar gaming machines that they felt were a little too close to the “slots game” heading. They believe the games are classified as slots and therefore illegal to operate without the proper licensing. The issue is coming to a head with whether or not the game are “slots games” or “strategy games.” This could determine whether or not they are allowed to continue operating. On one hand, legislators claim that the games have reels, offer a prize and take money. They believe that this makes them gambling games. On the other hand though, café owners believe that the games should be legal because they are programmed differently than your average casino slots game and they also have a strategy to them. With some practice, players can master them and winning is in their own hands. This is what they believe distinguishes the games from regular slots games. Police believe however that all of the machines similar to slots games are to be considered illegal contraband and up for removal by the department. Right now the two are going head to head trying to showcase their own arguments. It will take time to sort through the issue, but it will be a prime focus of legislators in the coming year.

Florida is another state that is on the brink of gambling changes. Right now the state is pushing for change and coming up with a lot of different options in terms of games. The Seminole Casino is the one right now that is focusing on development and evolution. Casino operators are hoping to develop their games into Vegas-style games. This means that they want to make their games even more exciting for gamers. For a long time Las Vegas has been one of those cities that offers the best games. Now Florida is pushing to replicate their former success and bring the same level of gaming for their own state’s gaming plan. The Seminole Casino owners are hoping that the move to expand their own gaming will help to contribute to their own success rate in the market. Right now a lot of Indian-owned companies are having problems with wagering revenues. They have seen diminishing numbers since the recession and beyond. It is making things difficult for gaming companies to turn things around. Right now to turn things around, the Seminole tribe is hoping to bring in Las Vegas style slots games to their casino floor. They want to take advantage of the state’s offer to hold exclusive table games on their floor.

In the end, this could be a great move for the tribal leaders to turn the casino around. Since the recession their numbers have been down. With the rise of the internet and its own gaming, along with neighboring state’s own casinos it is being more difficult to survive. Competition in the market is fierce and that is causing the market to continue to struggle. In particular Indian-owned casinos who have made the money needed for years now are having a very difficult time turning things around. They are suffering and the owners are looking for ways to bring better gaming in. If they can bring in Las Vegas styled casinos slots, this could help them to bring in a new customer base and increase their own revenue streams. This would be the most important thing they can do for their own future survival.

Palm Beach County, Florida is weighing in on the issue of gambling. Other areas within the state got the jump on gambling by writing laws that sustain and manage it. Palm Beach County officials are now looking to other counties that have implemented gambling law. They see the money generated by legalizing gambling and want to follow the same blueprint and replicate the success other areas of Florida have had with legalizing and regulating gambling in their areas.

State laws in Florida allow for slot machines and other forms of gaming in Broward County. Broward is situated right next to Palm Beach County but has a thorough law written that the former does not. Palm Beach County has various locations where it can put up its own gambling sites. The Palm Beach Kennel Club in the western part of the county for example would be a prime location for gambling. Operators are excited about the opportunity and see the successes of Broward County as a positive move towards their own gambling success in the near future.

Much of the arguments for gambling in Palm Beach County revolve around the Kennel Club. The lines against it are divided though. On one side believes that the county could benefit greatly from the financial benefits of bringing gambling to the area. On the other hand, there is another sector that believes that gambling would bring crime and addictions to the state. The reality though is that gambling is already a staple in the state of Florida. The state’s lottery is one of the biggest draws and expanding on it can bring in a huge amount of funding. The commission Chairman Burt Aaronson believes that since gambling is already in the state, residents should look to the additional benefits expansion would bring in. Employment, business and tax revenues all can have positive effects on the county—both the legislators and the voting public. Only time will tell what is going to happen with the issue, but most likely Florida is on the verge of more and more legislation that will benefit its financial deficit and shortfalls.

Palm Beach County wants to be a slot machine hotspot in the state of Florida. The state already allows slot machines in other counties like Broward County. Broward has benefited from the slot machines and brought in steady money throughout the past few months and now the Palm Beach County Commission wants the ok to move into the market. In particular, the Palm Beach Kennel Club in West Palm Beach is the facility that the county wants to bring slots to. They see how lucrative slots gambling can be and want to bring them to the market to help it recover from the recession of 2007/2008.

One controversy the state is under is the recent move of Governor Charlie Crist. He agreed to let tribal-owned casinos expand their slots machine facilities, but declined to extend the same chance to other casinos. Commission Chairman Burt Aaronson said that Palm Beach Kennel Club is at a notable disadvantage by not being allowed to have casino gambling in its facility. Opponents are stating that allowing it to bring in gambling would open the door for crime, corruption, money laundering and more addictions. Without the resources to help these issues, it will be difficult to recover and find more money to fund issues.

On the other hand, proponents of bringing slot gambling to the Palm Beach area are stating that it would increase the local job market considerably. Currently at the Palm Beach Kennel Club there are 600 employees and an average of 750,000 visitors a year. Priscilla Taylor, commissioner, said that expansions are crucial to the state. If the job market can be expanded, it would greatly increase the number of jobs available and bring in more people. That would allow more revenues to sustain the budget, and to fuel into the county. She also added that if state officials permit more gambling, the unemployment rate would finally have a chance of leveling off. In the Belle Glade, South Bay and Pahokee area, the unemployment rate is at 40%. That is a huge amount of unemployed for the market to sustain and any considerable change will help to ease the strain.

The airport heard its fate regarding the slot machine question recently and the decision did not sit well with airport officials. The state made their decision based on the fact that the airport is not a casino facility and under state law, that would be the only way to get slot machines in the business. In addition, the state said that the airport did not qualify as a “personal entity” and therefore would not be awarded the certification to bring in machines. Lastly, the airport was denied licensing to bring in slot machines because to do so would require that it could get the machines up and operational within one year. That is a task that the airport could never do, so they were denied on all counts to bring slots to the airport floor.

The airport made much of its case for bringing in slots on the basis of finance. It reported that it costs approximately $600 million a year to operate the airport but there is a huge expansion plan coming up for the next few years. Airport officials estimate the expansion to bring the new annual requirement of funds to $1.1 billion. They claim that they are not able to find funding for the additional money unless slot machines are brought in. The state had issue with this argument saying that that was not a good enough reason to allow the airport to have a slot machine license.

The airport is still reporting that its huge debt is enough of a reason to bring slot machines into the facility but critics argue that airport officials should now have embarked on the expansion in the first place if they didn’t have the cash to fund it without slots. Other critics to bringing slot machines to airports were the local racetracks that already have slots. They believed that if the airport was allowed to bring in slots, it would be a huge competition to them and cut in on their funding. Racetracks owners were worried and petitioned hard against the move and are now relieved to know that they won’t have airport competition in the near future.

Florida state lawmakers decided to vote against allowing Miami International Airport bringing slots as a form of revenue. The airports were hoping that slots would be the answer to their huge deficit. Slots traditionally have been highly lucrative for various businesses including casinos and racetracks. Since the time they were invented slots machines have captured millions of gamblers. The machines were first introduced in the late 1800s. Charles Fey came up with the first rough variation of the machine and quickly it took off. Though he was based on San Francisco, places as far away as New York were contacting him to bring the machine to their area. Bars and pubs throughout the country quickly caught on to the popularity of the slots machine and much of their revenues were bolstered by the machines. Soon a manufacturer saw the possibilities and produced the machine in mass.

Throughout the years, it quietly became a staple on the casino floor. In the 40s it began as an innocuous game where high-rollers left their wives. While they bet the big dollars, their wives played smaller amounts for hours. Slowly, slots took over as the number one gambling game in the casinos. During the recession, many casinos were in trouble. Their high-roller tables were suffered greatly due to the difficulty people had in finding money to gamble, much less gamble big dollars. Then there were the slots– at a penny a pop, they remained constants in the world of the casino. Many casinos saw penny-slots as the lifesaver of their businesses throughout the economic downturn.

It’s no wonder with a history like that why the Miami International Airport was pining for the machines. Its managers have been petitioning hard for the move. They believe that with the down-economy, having slot machines installed is a good way to bring up revenues. The airline industry as a whole has suffered throughout the recession and having slots installed at the airport would be a great pastime for customers waiting for their flights and visitors to play the games. They believed that bringing slots to their market would bring in money, but also create more satisfied customers because it would give them a new activity to enjoy while they wait for their flight to take off, or wait for loves ones to pick up.

Part two coming next.`

The problem began years ago when the Seminole Indians tried bringing slot machines to the state of Florida. Then-Governor Jeb Bush petitioned hard to keep slots out of the state. It was a pretty simple issue at the time because slots were not allowed. To bring them in would have involved heavy changes in legislation and the chances of the fight beginning back then, just wasn’t that probable. Now, however things are different.

Since the recession many legislators have changed their minds regarding slots and the reason is primarily financial. The recession ravaged most state coffers and finding money is a difficult task. Deficits are huge and the way many legislators are trying to overcome the problem is through legalizing slots gambling. Historically, slots parlors are highly lucrative. Las Vegas is a city where gambling has varied throughout the year, but almost inevitably the slots parlors are packed. Legislators know this and are working hard to bring legislation into states that would allow gambling tax revenues to benefit the state’s finances.

Part of the reason the issue is being pushed is because Miami Dade and Broward Counties voted to allow slot machines in their counties so the state now had to comply and them to bring them in. Had Florida jumped on the slot machine bandwagon sooner, it would have been able to write the rules in terms of how slots revenue would be portioned out. Because it didn’t, it now has to be careful to watch now the two counties wrote their legislative code regarding slots gambling. They could have cut themselves a good chunk of revenue first, and then portioned it out to the counties and cities that wanted to move into gambling.

The Seminold Indian Tribe is hurting for cash and so is the state. It seems like the two are coming to an agreement regarding slots and hoping to both benefit from the revenues available. Now the the recession is over, economists are hoping that people start putting more money into the economy.That includes gambling– if people start gambling again, the Seminole Indian Tribe will be able to save their businesses and the state of Florida will be able to work down its huge deficit.

Florida is quickly expanding their gambling outlets. The state recently placed lottery vending machines throughout various locations.  CGW Gaming Expert Brad Dawkins warned though that, “People who already have gambling problems and are sometimes embarrassed to buy their tickets at the counter, will now be free to buy their tickets without having to interact with anyone. This could create a new wave of problem gambling in Florida.” Dawkins is advising legislators to be cautions about jumping into expanding lottery outlets. The results could be detrimental to Floridians as a society and cause many other problems.

The ease in purchasing lottery tickets is causing concern within the Sunshine State. Tickets for purchase as the kiosks range from $1 to $30 each and are accessible at various locations.  This expansion has brought a Powerball Lottery to the general public and it will eventually expand to all the Seminole casinos in the state. This convenience of gambling is the issue that many religious-based and ethically-based organizations are worried about. They are voicing their displeasure with Florida’s decision to expand gambling and cautioning that this could notably increase the number of people addicted to the hobby. They believe that without safeguards, the state is setting its citizens up for disaster.

The state of Florida, however, is looking for revenue. Just like all US states, legislators are looking for ways to handle huge deficits and expenses. They are stifled due to the huge expenses and debt the recession has left the country in.  One viable option to increasing revenues is to expand gambling and use the gambling-tax dollars to close in the gap of revenue versus expenses. Florida is looking to close that gap any way possible and overlooking the huge revenue potential with expanding gambling is not one it will pass up quickly. They know that by cutting out the long lines and waiting on a cashier, people will buy lottery tickets more readily. The state is already planning on expanding the lottery kiosks to even more locations if the already set-up kiosks prove they are generating money. It’s estimated that millions of tax dollars could potentially be brought in via the lottery expansion.