The state of Florida recently denied a request by the bestbet poker room in Jacksonville to install slots, even though Duval County residents voted for them in a November referendum. Jamie Shelton, president of bestbet, said Florida regulators informed him only a change in existing gambling laws could allow installing slots at the venue. The state regulators said slots could not be authorized in counties where they had been approved in a countywide referendum unless the referendum had been authorized in the Constitution.
Bestbet owners can appeal the state’s decision or file for an administrative hearing. A spokesperson for bestbet’s parent company said the company will take no action for now but hoped the state would consider the fact that the majority of Duval County residents had voted to approve slot machines.
bestbet spent more than $2 million in an advertising campaign leading up to the referendum. Last month company owners applied for slots license to install up to 2,000 machines at the facility. The Jacksonville poker room would be the only legal slots facility within a 50-mile radius.
