Destination Gaming to go Before South Florida’s Tower Forum

Days before a Florida Senate committee will again take up the destination casino issue, a lobbyist for Las Vegas Sands and the president of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association will be speakers at a South Florida forum on the bill.

The Tower Forum, a nonpartisan business organization, plans to have Nick Iarossi, a lobbyist for Las Vegas Sands, and Carol Dover, president of the Tallahassee-based association that opposes the gaming bill, at its Jan. 5 breakfast forum in Fort Lauderdale.

Also among the panel will be Dan Adkins, vice president and CEO for Hartman and Tyner Inc., the owner of Mardi Gras Gaming. Adkins spearheaded efforts to bring casino gambling to the pari-mutuel facilities in Broward County.

The Senate-regulated Industries Committee is expected to review the bill -- SB 710, sponsored by Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale -- on Jan. 9, 2012, a day before the regular 60-day session gets underway.

Bogdanoff is expected to submit a revised version of the bill before the session that would increase the license fees for casinos, regulate Internet cafes and more equitably balance the current tax-no-revenue from existing pari-mutuels and the casinos that would be allowed under the bill.