Lee County to Proceed with Vote on Slots at Dog Track

Lee County voters will get to state if they want to allow Las Vegas-style slot machines at the Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track.

Lee County commissioners voted Tuesday to go ahead with a referendum in November, even though Attorney General Pam Bondi in January issued an opinion that the Department of Business and Professional Regulation should not approve slot-machine licenses, declaring that such referendums would be valid only if they are authorized by the Legislature or by the state Constitution.

While voters have shown an eagerness for slots, with Northern Florida voters earlier this year in Gadsden and Washington and Hamilton counties backing efforts to allow local gaming facilities to offer slot machines, the mood of many legislators in the 2011 session was not to expand gambling in Florida.