Previous entry: 
Next entry:
The Florida gambling compact: Winners and losers
Presuming the Florida Legislature approves the gambling package and the compact with the Seminole Tribe, as repoted by our Josh Hafenbrack, there will be a little shifting of the gambling scene here.
WINNERS: Poker players and all card rooms: Wow, what a long way from the $10 max-pot games of just a few years ago. The state is likely to approve real no-limit poker (their details are still confusing), which means those $100 max buy-in days are gone. Good riddance. Also big tournaments and larger limit games, such as $10-$20 limit.
Adds Scott Long of www.AnteUpMagazine.com: "Poker players should be ecstatic today."
LOSER: People who like to play $1-$2 limit and other low-limit games. Will there be table space for your game when the house can take a greater rake from the more expensive games?
LOSER: Hayden Fortini, and other young poker players like him. The 19-year-old FAU student won two Battle at the Beach events at the Isle last month. Now he'll be on the sidelines (or the Internet): the state says it's age 21 for poker, matching what it has been for slots.
WINNER: The Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Racing and Poker: Poker room and even dog racing business took a dive once the Seminole Casino Immokalee began blackjack a few months ago. Now, with the tribe giving up blackjack there, the track expects the parade of people driving 30 miles east to end. And a return to past revenues for the track. Which of course means ...
LOSERS: Southwest Florida blackjack players. Now they'll have to head either to Hard Rock Tampa or Hollywood or cruise ships if they want to play.
WINNER: Seminole Casino Coconut Creek: With an expansion plan that includes a hotel and entertainment similar to what's at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, you had to have an attraction. Now they do, with blackjack. It shouldn't take too long for blackjack, because the surveillance cameras are already in place and the tribe has dealers trained and ready. Which of course means ...
LOSER: The Isle Casino and Racing in Pompano Beach. A real punch in the gut for the casino, locked in a race with Coconut Creek for Palm Beach gamblers. Which of course means...
WINNERS: Palm Beach County gamblers, who soon won't have to drive all the way to Hollywood for blackjack.
WINNER/LOSER: Gulfstream Park Casino & Racing, Mardi Gras Gaming & Racetrack and Dania Jai-Alai. As Mardi Gras' Dan Adkins said, this whole thing still needs some digesting. But Dania's parent company, Boyd Gaming, held off on bringing in slots to the fronton, which is barely keeping afloat. Boyd has been (correctly) waiting for the tax rate to drop before building. Is now the time? And the approval of nighttime thoroughbred racing can only help Gulfstream, giving the venue another option.
WINNER: Your South Florida gambling writer, who many people bookmark (hint!), and again has plenty of news to cover in the next few months.
Your comments are welcomed.
Updated: "Clovus" who posts often at www.Pocket Fives.com, addresses the age rule on the jump of the blog:
This is bad for the young guns whom are easier to read for their aggressive style of play.
That means Bahamas or the internet will get all their play. How about the Hard Rock will they allow 18 year olds in the Poker Room? (Nick: My hunch is no.)
I think that move is a travesty for poker as we need young players to grow with the game. They will just go online now and the state will lose that revenue.
Agreed they (mos't) cant afford to play higher limits but tell that to the European Uber Millionaires like Annette 15 (19 years old now) and has won the EPT.
Clovus
NICK SORTAL began playing 3-card "gut" and "Indian poker" on high school band trips, early training for his...
Comments
Another winner, if the Tribe agrees to this bad deal, will be the Big M Casino cruise ship in Ft. Myers since they'll be the closest blackjack in the area.
Posted by: DannyK | May 7, 2009 11:45 AM
Appears that other losers include craps players and roulette players. However since roullete has some of the worst odds in a Casino that may not be such a bad thing (for roullette players that is)
Posted by: Max | May 7, 2009 12:05 PM
Appears that other losers include craps players and roulette players. However since roullete has some of the worst odds in a Casino that may not be such a bad thing (for roullette players that is)
Posted by: Max | May 7, 2009 12:05 PM
Nick, Any word about extending the hours in the poker rooms for racinos, or are they still limited to 12 hours a day per license? Never mind found it in the link you provided - 18 hours a day during the week and 24 hours on weekends.
Winners - Nite-owl poker players.
Losers - Idiots (looking in mirror) that do not have the sense to leave at a reasonable hour and rely on poker room to close to get home and get to sleep for work in the morning.
Posted by: Dday25 | May 7, 2009 12:05 PM
Does anyone know how much the buy-ins will be raised to for no limit?
Posted by: Ed | May 7, 2009 2:04 PM
Does anyone know how much the buy-ins will be raised to for no limit?
Posted by: Ed | May 7, 2009 2:05 PM
My hunch is $1,000, but that is not certain.
Would $1,000 make it a good game?
Posted by: Nick Sortal | May 7, 2009 2:17 PM
yes... a 1K buy in would make it a great game and things more reasonable than being limited to $100 buy in at poker when you could play the slots at $400 per spin at the high machines.
Posted by: Cowbaoy | May 7, 2009 2:24 PM
What about the Miccossuki (excuse spelling) Indian reservation in South Miami? Will they get Blackjack?
Posted by: BOBBI | May 7, 2009 3:27 PM
The Isle might open up quarter horse racing and is still the premiere poker house.
Coconut Creek casino still has a long way to go and is locked in a fight with the City of Coconut Creek about expansion. If I was working for the Isle, I would be greasing every palm necessary throughout Coconut Creek to keep the land around the casino as Creek property.
Posted by: The Dentist | May 7, 2009 6:07 PM
Dentist -
From what I understood, the only reason the Isle was considering opening quarter horse racing was to stack their licenses to extend the poker room hours (such as Mardi Gras). If this new gambling agreement goes through as proposed which includes extended hours for poker rooms, I doubt the Isle will pursue obtaining a quarter horse license just to keep poker open 6 more hours a day Sun-Thur.
You are right about the Isle being the premiere poker room in S. Fla though. When the increased limits happen, if the Isle plays their cards right (pun intended), they could attract some high profile tournaments to the area. Don't forget they have all that empty space where Bragazzo's used to be. This will only happen if the tax reduction for racinos includes poker, because the high rollers will not show up in numbers with the rake the house is taking now.
Posted by: Dday25 | May 8, 2009 9:54 AM
the legislature still mucked this whole thing up. Florida should be a full casino state. that would be best for everyone living here.
Posted by: gh | May 8, 2009 10:03 AM
If passed, ALL buy in limits will be lifted
Posted by: Max | May 8, 2009 10:39 AM
Max - If you were responding to my post I was not referring to buy-in limits. I was referring to the house rake. Right now the % (rake) that poker rooms take from players entering tournaments in Florida is well above parts of the country that are poker friendly. The reason the rake is so high is because of the tax burden from the state. If passed, the tax the racinos pay on slots is reduced, but if this reduction does not include poker even with big buy-in events it will be hard to attract big name players. Why come to Florida to enter a $5000 event when the house will take twice as much as they do where these big money events are already being played?
Posted by: DDay25 | May 8, 2009 12:15 PM
Updates: My thinking is the same as D-Day's: No quarterhorses at the Isle.
Poker looks like we'll be seeing games, such as $500 min buy-in for a $5-$10 game, for example, and maybe a $1,000, $2000 max buy-in; if you don't have a max, you still have an unfair game, I'm told.
But I don't play with those big numbers enough to know. Anyone else help me on this one?
Bobbi: Unlike in Survivor, the tribe in Miami whose name neither you nor I can spell has not spoken. My hunch: They'll make a play once the Seminoles get it all done. Why not? The water will have been carried.
Posted by: Nick Sortal | May 8, 2009 10:36 PM
Updates: My thinking is the same as D-Day's: No quarterhorses at the Isle.
Poker looks like we'll be seeing games, such as $500 min buy-in for a $5-$10 game, for example, and maybe a $1,000, $2000 max buy-in; if you don't have a max, you still have an unfair game, I'm told.
But I don't play with those big numbers enough to know. Anyone else help me on this one?
Bobbi: Unlike in Survivor, the tribe in Miami whose name neither you nor I can spell has not spoken. My hunch: They'll make a play once the Seminoles get it all done. Why not? The water will have been carried.
Posted by: Nick Sortal | May 8, 2009 10:36 PM
And note my double-post, too. Sorry.
The comments function on our site needs work!
Posted by: Nick Sortal | May 8, 2009 10:38 PM
The poker rooms will need to limit the buy-ins to some degree. I have seen 2-5 tables where the min buy in is $300 and max is $500. That makes for an interesting game and in a range that most gamblers can manage. -- A 100 times the big blind seems like a pretty good rule of thumb. By setting a limit, you reduce the slot machine players by keeping the original chips close in size. I would not be opposed to adding antes to the higher games -- that will encourage action
I expect we will not see a lot of big NL games (25-50)-- I think we will still see a lot of 1-2, 2-5 games. The pots will just be a little bigger.
Posted by: LOLGUY | May 11, 2009 12:11 PM
The slots haven't been that successful at the pari-mutuels and I doubt that Boyd Gaming will decide to build a new casino at Dania Jai-alai, yet, especially in this economy.
I believe they will wait and see how things go after the new gambling changes take effect.
Posted by: Steve Bourie | May 11, 2009 4:33 PM
The slots haven't been that successful at the pari-mutuels and I doubt that Boyd Gaming will decide to build a new casino at Dania Jai-alai, especially in this economy.
I believe they will wait and see how things go after the new gambling changes take effect.
Posted by: Steve Bourie | May 11, 2009 4:34 PM