TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Broward County voters wanted Vegas-style slots, but the Florida House voted Monday to limit the county's pari-mutuels to bingo-based gambling machines and to take 55 percent of slots revenue in taxes.

But the 91-24 vote sent the legislation to the Senate, which has favored Vegas-style slots and a lower tax rate.

With just four days left in the two-month session, the different approaches have left the possibility of passing a final bill in doubt.

What's Next?

The Senate still needs to pass its slots bill. That one favors the Vegas-style, class-three machines.
The House and Senate have to reach a compromise.
State lawmakers have to decide how much to tax each machine, plus figure out how many machines everyone should get.

Slots Approval Complicated By Indian Gaming Deal

Floridians approved a ballot measure in November that changed the state constitution to give Broward and Miami-Dade counties the choice of allowing slot machines at seven tracks and jai-alai frontons.

The pari-mutuel industry sold the measure by promising that any tax revenue would be spent on schools across the state. Voters in Miami rejected slots and voters in Broward approved them.

Regulation of slots is complicated by federal law, which gives Indian tribes the right to negotiate for any kind of gambling allowed elsewhere in a state. Both the Seminole and the Miccosukee tribes have notified Gov. Jeb Bush that they want to start negotiations -- and that they believe the November vote gives them the right to Las Vegas-style slot machines.

Bush wants to limit the expansion of gambling.

The tribes have several casinos around the state that now have bingo-based gambling machines.

The House bill (HB 1901) would limit the Broward pari-mutuels to that kind of machine. With a 55 percent tax rate, an estimated $320 million for schools would be raised for schools in a few years, according to Rep. Frank Attkisson, the Kissimmee Republican who has overseen the legislation.

The Senate bill (CS-SB 1174) would allow Las Vegas-style slots and has a tax rate ranging from 30 to 35 percent, depending on how much money the pari-mutuels collect from the machines.

State analysts have estimated that would raise about $400 million for schools, in part because the Vegas-style machines are more profitable, Attkisson said.

In the House, opponents said the legislation didn't give voters what they asked for.

"You know what a slot machine is," said Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Dania. "It's a machine where you either pull a handle or you press a button and then you see the cherries, the lemons and the bar rolls and spins.

"And if you win all kinds of money comes flying out of the machine," Ryan said. "That's a slot machine."

Attkisson countered that sponsors of the ballot measure could have defined what they wanted and opted not to, leaving that decision to state lawmakers.

He argued that the Legislature needed to put Bush in a strong position to negotiate with the tribes.

Attkisson conceded the House was "pushing the limit" on the tax rate but defended it as an appropriate and "respectful" level.

"If we go too low, we'll never be able to get it higher," Attkisson said. "But if we set it high and we have some heartburn we can always come back and lower it."