Fight Over Racinos Heats Up
Apr 28, 2004
Promoters of expanding slot machines to Michigan
race tracks are squaring off against casino
operators determined to keep their monopoly on the
games.
No one is gambling on the outcome. Bills that
would allow lottery-linked slot machines in race
tracks have been stalled in a state Senate
committee for nearly a year. But Tuesday, the full
Senate bypassed the committee, voting to bring the
main bill to the floor.
Bill Nowling, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader
Ken Sikkema, R-Wyoming, said the lawmaker opposes
the racino bills but wanted a vote now to get the
issue over with, one way or another.
"We need to vote this up or down and get it off
our calendar," Nowling said. "Racinos siphon off a
lot of energy we need to spend balancing the
budget."
People on both sides of the racino issue have been
rallying, lobbying and flooding legislators with
information since last fall.
A coalition of American Indian tribes, Detroit
casino owners and antigambling groups will hold a
rally against racinos today in Lansing and
announce a ballot drive that would block the
racino measure, at least temporarily.
The coalition hopes to collect 317,757 signatures
by July 6 to put a constitutional amendment on the
November ballot. The amendment would say that as
of Jan. 1, 2004, any gambling expansion that
includes slot machines must be approved by voters
statewide.
If the ballot measure passes in November, then
racino interests would have to get voters to
approve their plans in yet another statewide
election.Local voters also would have to approve
any new gambling.
The bill the Senate will vote on Thursday is
sharply different than the one the House passed.
It would cut out Internet betting on horse races,
off-track betting parlors and limit the number of
tracks in the state to nine. The state now has
seven race tracks, and eight plans for new tracks
have been filed with the state racing
commissioner.
The bill would also set up a new board to oversee
racinos, similar to the Michigan Gaming Control
Board, which strictly regulates casinos. The bill
would give 70 percent of the money from the slot
machines to the state, rather than 40 percent
under the House version; tracks would get half the
commission they were to get under the House bill.
The bill would regulate the tracks in a way much
like casinos are regulated, with limits on
contributions to political candidates and
background checks on owners and workers.
Julian said that if the Senate bill passes, it
would have to go back to the House because of the
differences between the two. That would mean
negotiations between the two chambers and possibly
with the governor, who must sign it to make it
law, he said.
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