Taylor Jones/The Palm Beach Post

Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, said Tuesday the Florida Lottery should be regulated by the same appointed gaming commission that would have control of casinos.

By Jennifer Sorentrue and Dara Kam

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

TALLHASSEE — On the eve of the first official vetting of a proposal intended to allow three casinos in South Florida, the bill's sponsor revealed a new wrinkle in her "strategic vision" for gambling -- transforming the Florida Lottery department into the Florida Gaming Department.

Casting the Lottery as "predatory gaming" that she'd like to see shut down, Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, said Tuesday it should be regulated by the same appointed gaming commission that would have control casinos.

Meanwhile, Palm Beach County and a Panhandle county are racing to get voters to approve referenda that would allow existing pari-mutuels to have slots, something now limited to Indian casinos and horse and dog tracks and jai alai frontons in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

"We want to be in the pipeline," Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson said Tuesday in asking that the commission consider a referendum to allow slots at the Palm Beach Kennel Club at its Dec. 6 meeting. If approved by the seven-member board, the referendum would go before voters on the presidential election ballot next November.

Aaronson believes the county doesn't need to wait for approval from the legislature, something that Rep. Joseph Abruzzo, D-Wellington, is nevertheless pursuing for the county.

The jockeying for gambling rights in Florida comes as Bogdanoff's South Florida casiono proposal (SB 790) faces its first hearing this morning at a three-hour workshop at the Senate Regulated Industries Committee.

Bogdanoff said she originally believed the Lottery had to be kept separate from other gambling, but now thinks the Lottery could be made a division within a Gaming Department. Although voters approved the Lottery in a constitutional amendment more than two decades ago, the agency overseeing it was created by statute, meaning lawmakers can change it, Bogdanoff said.

"I'm not saying it's 100 percent but that would be my preference. I might have five other opinions from five other lawyers but I've been told by two or three that they believe that we can," she said.

Bogdanoff, however, said she'd really prefer to do away with the Lottery, which brought in about $4 billion last year.

The Lottery is "just simply taking money from our own citizens and not really doing anything to benefit Florida, other than producing revenue for education but that revenue would also potentially be produced because it would be spent in other areas, in shops and restaurants and other places" Bogdanoff said.

"I think it's important that we harness and we rein in that type of gaming that is not necessarily productive for the state of Florida, productive for the people and more addictive in terms of the Lottery and slots are more addictive than some of the other games out there," she said.

About 98 percent of the Lottery's revenue goes to pay for education, as is required by the voter-approved amendment that created it. But whereas lawmakers originally promised to use the money to supplement other funding for education, they now use it as basic education funding.

Bogdanoff's "destination casino resort" bill, however, may soon face competition from an alternative being offered by Abruzzo. Besides sponsoring the local bill that would allow slots at the Palm Beach Kennel Club, Abruzzo said he plans to offer a bill that would allow Gov. Rick Scott to renegotiate a deal with the Seminoles and allow the tribe to add craps and roulette at its casinos in exchange for a $750 million annual payment to the state. The tribe currently pays $250 million for the right to have slot machines and "banked" card games, including blackjack.

Abruzzo's plan would generate $15 billion over 20 years, he said, and would be an easier sell to gambling-leery lawmakers wary of Bogdanoff's bill.

"For those who oppose an expansion of gambling, it would not be that significant of an expansion. It would hardly be noticed while bringing in billions," Abruzzo said.

The county's legislative delegation has already approved Abruzzo's other bill, the one asking state lawmakers to allow Palm Beach County commissioners hold a referendum on slots at pari-mutuels in the county.