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Broward County, Florida is moving forward with its plans to
introduce slot machine gambling. Unfortunately, where there are
slot machines, especially new ones, there are destined to be
criminals, both organized and amateur, attempting to take advantage
of security flaws. Casinos lose millions upon millions of dollars
to such thievery, and Florida is making every effort to prevent such
crimes at the four pari-mutuels in Broward County once they finally
receive their slot machines.
It now rests in the hands of
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement to protect the states new
slot machines from any criminal activity.
The Florida Department of
Law Enforcement’s Gaming Enforcement Team is the agency first office
dedicated to policing slot machines. Four pari-mutuels in Broward
County will soon operate thousands of slot machines that will
generate millions of tax dollars for the state. It is up to the
FDLE to protect those dollars.
Come October, Gulfstream
Park in Hallandale Beach will unveil the first 500 slot machines.
The Gaming Enforcement Team is establishing a base at the
pari-mutuel in preparation. All four of the pari-mutuels will
eventually be policed by the teams 39 employees. As an extra
precaution, every employee associated with the new slot machines,
from the owners down to the cleaning crew, will receive a
comprehensive background check from the FDLE.
There is a learn-as-you-go
element presented to the team. “Our challenge is that it is such a
new initiative for us… Until we are actually on top of the horse and
riding it, we don’t know how it’s going to ride,” admits Amos Rojos
Jr., Special agent in charge of FDLE’s Miami Regional Operations
Center.
The FDLE received a detailed slot machine seminar from New Jersey
slot machine specialist Tom Giardina. His assessment of the
agency’s readiness is that they appear prepared to take on all the
factors that come hand-in-hand with racinos – a term used for race
track casinos. However, he cautions, “Any time there’s fresh blood,
people are going to be drawn to it.”
FDLE’s major weapon against
slot machine crime is the background check. Though they believe
their on-site presence will be valuable, the checks are a prevention
measure.
“We’ve learned from other
jurisdictions that organized crime and people who shouldn’t be in
the gaming industry attempt to be a part of it,” said the FDLE
Assistant Special Agent in Charge Michael Mann. He further
asserted, “We want to make sure that everyone has a ‘squeaky-clean’
record.”
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation rely
on background checks to approve licenses. The background will
encompass financial, criminal, and previous employment information.
Broward County’s new slot
machines stand to make lots of money for the state of Florida. It
goes without saying that the four racinos will collect millions of
dollars off of the slot machines. Florida will collect half of
every dollar dropped in the machines. With machines in Gulfstream,
Pompano Park Harness Track, Mardi Gras Racetrack & Gaming Center in
Hallandale Beach, and Dania Jai-Alai, Florida schools will receive
an estimated $209 million dollars in the 2007-2008 fiscal year.
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