Bill Text: FL S0522 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Cardrooms
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-05-07 - Indefinitely postponed and withdrawn from consideration [S0522 Detail]
Download: Florida-2011-S0522-Introduced.html
Florida Senate - 2011 SB 522
By Senator Diaz de la Portilla
36-00770-11 2011522__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to cardrooms; amending s. 849.086,
3 F.S.; providing for bingo games to be offered in
4 cardrooms; revising the definition of the term
5 “authorized game” to include bingo; defining the term
6 “bingo”; defining the term “gross receipts” for
7 purposes of bingo games; providing an effective date.
8
9 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
10
11 Section 1. Subsection (2) of section 849.086, Florida
12 Statutes, is amended, and paragraph (h) is added to subsection
13 (7) of that section, to read:
14 849.086 Cardrooms authorized.—
15 (2) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:
16 (a) “Authorized game” means a game or series of games of
17 bingo, poker, or dominoes which are played in a nonbanking
18 manner.
19 (b) “Banking game” means a game in which the house is a
20 participant in the game, taking on players, paying winners, and
21 collecting from losers or in which the cardroom establishes a
22 bank against which participants play.
23 (c) “Bingo” means and refers to the activity in which
24 participants pay a sum of money for the use of one or more bingo
25 cards. When the game commences, numbers are drawn by chance, one
26 by one, and announced. The players cover or mark those numbers
27 on the bingo cards which they have purchased until a player
28 receives a given order of numbers in sequence that has been
29 preannounced for that particular game. This player calls out
30 “bingo” and is declared the winner of a predetermined prize.
31 More than one game may be played upon a bingo card, and numbers
32 called for one game may be used for a succeeding game or games.
33 (d)(c) “Cardroom” means a facility where authorized games
34 are played for money or anything of value and to which the
35 public is invited to participate in such games and charged a fee
36 for participation by the operator of such facility. Authorized
37 games and cardrooms do not constitute casino gaming operations.
38 (e)(d) “Cardroom management company” means any individual
39 not an employee of the cardroom operator, any proprietorship,
40 partnership, corporation, or other entity that enters into an
41 agreement with a cardroom operator to manage, operate, or
42 otherwise control the daily operation of a cardroom.
43 (f)(e) “Cardroom distributor” means any business that
44 distributes cardroom paraphernalia such as card tables, betting
45 chips, chip holders, dominoes, dominoes tables, drop boxes,
46 banking supplies, playing cards, card shufflers, and other
47 associated equipment to authorized cardrooms.
48 (g)(f) “Cardroom operator” means a licensed pari-mutuel
49 permitholder which holds a valid permit and license issued by
50 the division pursuant to chapter 550 and which also holds a
51 valid cardroom license issued by the division pursuant to this
52 section which authorizes such person to operate a cardroom and
53 to conduct authorized games in such cardroom.
54 (h)(g) “Division” means the Division of Pari-mutuel
55 Wagering of the Department of Business and Professional
56 Regulation.
57 (i)(h) “Dominoes” means a game of dominoes typically played
58 with a set of 28 flat rectangular blocks, called “bones,” which
59 are marked on one side and divided into two equal parts, with
60 zero to six dots, called “pips,” in each part. The term also
61 includes larger sets of blocks that contain a correspondingly
62 higher number of pips. The term also means the set of blocks
63 used to play the game.
64 (j)(i) “Gross receipts” means the total amount of money
65 received by a cardroom from any person for participation in
66 authorized games.
67 (k)(j) “House” means the cardroom operator and all
68 employees of the cardroom operator.
69 (l)(k) “Net proceeds” means the total amount of gross
70 receipts received by a cardroom operator from cardroom
71 operations less direct operating expenses related to cardroom
72 operations, including labor costs, admission taxes only if a
73 separate admission fee is charged for entry to the cardroom
74 facility, gross receipts taxes imposed on cardroom operators by
75 this section, the annual cardroom license fees imposed by this
76 section on each table operated at a cardroom, and reasonable
77 promotional costs excluding officer and director compensation,
78 interest on capital debt, legal fees, real estate taxes, bad
79 debts, contributions or donations, or overhead and depreciation
80 expenses not directly related to the operation of the cardrooms.
81 (m)(l) “Rake” means a set fee or percentage of the pot
82 assessed by a cardroom operator for providing the services of a
83 dealer, table, or location for playing the authorized game.
84 (n)(m) “Tournament” means a series of games that have more
85 than one betting round involving one or more tables and where
86 the winners or others receive a prize or cash award.
87 (7) CONDITIONS FOR OPERATING A CARDROOM.—
88 (h) A cardroom operator’s conduct of bingo is conditioned
89 upon the return of 80 percent of all proceeds from such games
90 during the year to the players in the form of prizes and cash
91 awards. For purposes of bingo games only, the term “gross
92 receipts” means the total amount received by the cardroom
93 operator for participating in the bingo game less the total
94 amount paid to the winners or others as prizes or cash awards.
95 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.
