Florida slots appeal today; Senecas’ have plans for Rochester

Florida

FloridaAn appeal will be heard later today that its proponents will hope overturns a ruling to allow slot machines all over Florida. A circuit judge made the ruling that lawmakers can allow the machines last year at the same time dismissing a lawsuit challenging slot machines at Hileah Park. A three-judge panel of the 1st Disctrict Court of Appeal in Tallahassee will hear the case. If the ruling stands, it will pave the way for full-scale casino resorts to be built in the state. The ruling remaining intact would be music to the ears of Genting Bhd. who purchased 14 acres of prime Miami waterfront with the aim of creating a Resorts World Miami.

The Senecas’ have got another spanner to throw into New York’s plans for gambling industry expansion after they revealed that opening a casino is on their list of plans in one city. Speaking to today’s State Senate Committee on Racing, Wagering, and Gaming in Canandaigua the Seneca Indian President Robert Odawi Porter revealed the Nation has looked at the viability of opening a casino in Rochester. “We know it’s economically viable, the question is whether this is something the community wants to have,” Porter said.

He added, “Rochester is a great opportunity for us. If its something that opens up for us that would be fantastic.”

Porter and the Senecas’ oppose state changes that would allow casinos to be opened by non-tribal entities. The two sides have been embroiled in a row for some months over the payment of fees to the state as the Senecas’ claim that an agreement between the two has been broken. The 2004 on a casino in Rochester say that it would generate 800 full-time jobs.