State-by-State Updates Winter 2000-01

Alabama
Mobile: Investigators from the county district attorney’s office raided Mobile Greyhound Park Oct. 24 and hauled away 50 “redemption machines” that have been operating since July. The machines were seized several weeks after Presiding Circuit Court Judge Robert Kendall ruled that the machines’ payoffs were too high for them to be considered amusement devices.
The statute that allows the machines to operate legally under certain circumstances was written to exempt children’s games from anti-gambling laws. The law specifies that prizes cannot exceed $5 in value. The machines operating at the Mobile track and two other video arcades paid out coupons redeemable for hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise at local businesses.
Mobile County District Attorney John M. Tyson Jr. said that the seizures are only beginning. “We intend to get to every machine that is illegal in this county.” Tyson estimated that prior to Kendall’s ruling, there were as many as 2,000 machines operating in the county and that they took in as much as “$2 million a week. That’s more than $100 million a year.” Tyson said that those who fail to comply with the ruling “are at risk” of criminal prosecution.

Sources: Alabama Live:
Gary McElroy The Associated Press

Arizona
Phoenix/Tucson: In an attempt to limit the statewide spread of tribal casinos, three Phoenix racetrack owners filed suit Nov. 17 against Gov. Jane Hull, State Attorney General Janet Napolitano, and Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley. The suit seeks to prevent the governor from signing new compacts with tribal governments, contending that the state lacks the authority to grant gambling rights to one group that are otherwise illegal under Arizona law. The matter goes before a judge Jan. 29.
Neil Wake, an attorney representing the owners of Phoenix (PGP) and Apache Greyhound Parks and the owner of Turf Paradise, a Phoenix horse track, said the racetrack owners want a fair chance to compete with tribal casinos. “Either the tribes are not allowed to engage in slot machines and blackjack or the racetracks are allowed to. That’s what we’re seeking.” he said.
Hull, through spokeswoman Francie Noyes, reaffirmed her authority to negotiate gaming compacts, or operating agreements, with the state’s tribes. Currently, 15 of the state’s 21 tribes operate 7,637 slot machines in 19 casinos around the state. State law allows 14,200 slot machines. Noyes said a law enacted in the early 1990s granted the governor authority to negotiate compacts.
There are six tribal casinos operating in or near the Phoenix metropolitan area, including Casino Arizona, a new $50 million, 140,000-square-foot, 500-slot machine gambling hall within a few miles of PGP. The track’s marketing director, Bac Tran, said seven years ago the grandstands were filled with 6,000 people for nightly fall races. Today, fall crowds top out at 1,000. “Now you get your choice of seats,” Tran said.
Tribal casinos in and around Tucson are also taking a toll on Tucson Greyhound Park (TGP). Track officials warn that more card tables and additional slot machines will sound the death knell for the 56-year-old track.
“We’re violently opposed to any new Indian gaming compacts that would increase the number of machines or venues. If you do that, you’ve basically built the coffins for the pari-mutuel tracks in this state,” said TGP co-owner Joe Zappala. Zappala, a New Yorker, describes the 1987 purchase of the track as “the worst investment we’ve ever made.”
The Tohono O’Odham Nation, which operates two casinos southwest of Tucson, is scheduled to open a third casino in October 2001. The Pascua Yaqui Tribe, which opened the Casino of the Sun within Tucson city limits in 1995, also is planning a second casino in the area. The tribe will break ground in January on the Casino del Sol. The 242,000-square-foot, $65 million facility is scheduled to open in July 2002.
Since the opening of the first Indian casino in 1993, TGP has seen a 72 percent decline in attendance.
Hull began “sensitive talks” with the 15 tribes earlier this year because the original compacts will begin to expire in 2003. Hull is proposing to raise the 500-machine-per-casino limit and legalize blackjack in exchange for tribal agreements to build fewer casinos than the 54 allowed by state law. Revenue sharing is reportedly the most controversial issue on the table.

Sources: The Arizona Republic: Carol Sowers
Tucson Citizen: Mitch Tobin
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Damon Hodge

Connecticut
Bridgeport: More than 40 anti-racing protesters held a demonstration in front of the Shoreline Star greyhound track on Saturday, Oct. 14. Many of the protesters were accompanied by their adopted greyhounds. The event, organized by Melani Nardone, Connecticut representative of the Greyhound Protection League (GPL), and Sheila Havens, GPL New Jersey, was covered by cable News Channel 12.
Shoreline ended its five-month live racing season the following day. “It was our best season yet, both in attendance and handle,” said Steve Alford, the track’s general manager. “As of Sept. 30, the attendance was 178,000. For the same period last year, it was 160,000,” Alford said. The wagering handle on live races rose slightly to $3.1 million, up from $2.9 million in 1999.

Source: Connecticut Post: Bill McDonald

Plainfield: Local 217 of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union filed a complaint with Plainfield Greyhound Park in early October over the track’s plan to close two dining areas on Fridays.
The union, representing 27 cooks, waitresses and other workers who had the Friday shifts, alleged that track management breached its agreement with the workers by cutting back hours without negotiating with the union first. The cutback also puts health care benefits in jeopardy for those part-time employees.
The complaint is being addressed through the grievance process, said Plainfield’s general manager Jim Capiola. “I respect the process we have established with Local 217 and feel it is inappropriate to comment further on this issue at the present time,” he said.

Source: The Associated Press

Florida
Tampa: A four-month-long investigation into the suicide of State Attorney Harry Lee Coe III was completed in late November. Coe, 68, killed himself July 13, the day after he became the target of a state investigation into his finances, including improper loans from employees and gambling debts.
Gov. Jeb Bush appointed special prosecutor Bernie McCabe, the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to look into the circumstances of Coe’s death. “It is our opinion at the time of his death, Mr. Coe’s financial situation was in disarray — he was heavily indebted and continued to gamble large amounts of money,” McCabe wrote in his three-page report. The investigation revealed that Coe was $150,000 in debt, despite a yearly salary and pension of $216,000. Coe had served more than 20 years as a Hillsborough County judge.
According to McCabe’s report, Coe’s gambling addiction had taken over his life. In the 15 months leading up to his suicide, Coe wrote checks totaling $510,000 to the Tampa and St. Petersburg dog tracks. Some of those checks bounced. At the time of his death, Coe owed the tracks $19,000 and $28,000, respectively. Coe wrote so many bad checks that he accumulated more than $5,000 in returned-check fees alone.
The investigation also revealed that Coe, who had been running for a third term, had also “grossly misrepresented” his finances on campaign disclosure forms and that some campaign funds had been deposited into his personal account.
Coe’s friend, tax collector Doug Belden, said he was glad the investigation was finally over and that it gives some closure to his family and friends. Belden did not think anyone would ever really know what drove Coe to suicide. “He may not have always showed it but he took things hard,” Belden said.

Source: St. Petersburg Times: Sue Carlton, Graham Brink, David Carp

Iowa
Des Moines: Racetrack-casinos in Dubuque, Council Bluffs and Altoona filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Iowa’s gambling tax law. The two dog tracks and one horse track claim they are treated unfairly because they pay taxes at a much higher rate than riverboat casinos. The tracks also want to block the state from collecting taxes at higher rates over the next four years.
The tracks currently pay a 28 percent state tax on slot-machine revenues. An incremental tax rate was established in 1994 when voters in seven of Iowa’s 99 counties approved a measure allowing slot machines for the struggling tracks. The tax rate began at 20 percent and since 1997 it has risen by 2 percentage points annually. The tax will continue rising until it reaches a maximum of 36 percent in 2004. Riverboat casinos pay a 20 percent tax on gambling revenues.
Polk County District Court Judge Scott Rosenberg heard opening arguments in the high-stakes lawsuit Oct. 11 and took the matter under consideration. In a ruling made public on Dec. 13, Rosenberg rejected the racetrack-casinos constitutional challenge of the state’s tax law. The judge said he concluded that the Iowa Legislature had a legitimate interest in promoting the development of cities along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. “Or simply, the Iowa Legislature could have concluded that riverboats should receive a beneficial tax rate because it is a needed or useful industry.”

Sources: The Des Moines Register: William Petroski
(Dubuque) Telegraph Herald
The Associated Press

Texas
Harlingen: Live racing resumed at Valley Race Park (VRP) on Friday, Dec. 15. The track, closed since 1995, reopened for simulcasting in March after it was purchased by the owners of the Sam Houston horse track in Houston. The live racing season is expected to last about four months. There will be seven performances from Tuesday through Sunday, including a matinee on Saturday. Each performance will consist of 13 races. The track will be open on Monday for simulcasting only.
Wayne Newcomer, VRP’s director of operations, said the simulcast handle has been averaging $50,000 a day. “We’re very satisfied with the way things are going,” he said. According to Newcomer, nearly $460,000 set aside from the simulcast handle will be used to supplement purses.
Twelve kennels were in place a week be-fore the opening, the majority of them from Corpus Christi. Three kennels from Kansas and two from Wisconsin complete the roster.

Source: Valley Morning Star: Buddy Green

Wisconsin
Kenosha: Gov. Tommy Thompson secretly signed a 79-page gaming compact with the Menominee Nation in August to turn Dairyland Greyhound Park into a $200 million tribal casino. The agreement was not made public until Nov. 2, a month after the compact had been approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Part of the agreement states that if a Kenosha casino opens, it could offer black-jack and slot machines alongside dog racing. It also outlines procedures for adding games such as craps and roulette, which aren’t allowed in other tribal casinos.
Attorney General James Doyle criticized Thompson, who has publicly said he does not favor an expansion of gaming, for the secrecy surrounding the deal. Doyle has sent a letter to Kevin Gover, assistant secretary of the BIA, asking the agency to reconsider its Oct. 4 approval of the agreement.
Doyle predicted an explosion in off-reservation gambling, since most of the 11 other Wisconsin tribes have a “me too” clause in their compacts that allows them to seek the same deal a competing tribe receives. “If you say ‘yes’ to Kenosha, you have to say ‘yes’ to Hudson and Kaukauna,” said Doyle, referring to efforts by other tribes to open casinos at dog tracks in the state. “The governor has opened a door I don’t know how you can shut.”
The Ho-Chunk tribe also expressed dismay over the deal. Tribal President Pro Tem Clarence Pettibone said the Menominee should not be allowed to open a casino in an area of the state that the Ho-Chunk consider to be part of their ancestral land.
thompson defended his actions, pointing out that the deal is not yet final. The BIA still has to approve the tribe's application to turn Dairyland into Menominee land so it can build the proposed Paradise Key casino which will house 4,000 slot machines.

Sources: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Cary Spivak