Re(1): Question for the parimutuel experts
Posted on January 1, 2005 at 08:34:58
AM by Mark K.
While on my mini jai alai trip last weekend i had an opportunity
to speak to one on the members of management about its take on
the slots. On condition of anonymity,his take was that the mood
is one of cautious optimism, at least at the Miami fronton. The
legal challenges have been dropped to the amendment, and all that
remains is the local referendum. One concern is that the vote
get out and actually PASS that darned thing locally. Historically,
like the smoking ban in public buildings, those opposed are better
able to marshall support than those in favor. Once THAT challenge
has been overcome, the next issue is the actual details of the
slots, for example, hours of operation, the number of slots allowed
by legislature, the manufacturer that must be used as supplier,
the take out (the Indians, according to my source, currently return
a shade less than 50% of slot revenue to players on their machines,
while the new slots will probably return somewhere between 94%
and 98% to the bettors), and who will oversee the operation. the
thought was that probably an outside person would run the slot
enterprise, to assure professionalism and maximum efficiency,
much like outside gaming interests run the Indian casinos. Other
areas needing to be determined is length of jai alai season (likely
the players would be given a couple of months with no live jai
alai, which is probably good for the players and the sport, seasonal,
like the old days, and also likely to be affected would be number
of performances per week, with less preferred to more (also better
for players). Of course, the players would be given a piece of
the slots pie, like at Newport. However, the source was pretty
emphatic that in the end, live jai alai in Florida would NOT suffer
the same fate as in Newport. All in all, I was encouraged by the
info and felt i should share it here.
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