Poker Room to run 24 Hours at Mardi Gras, Florida.

Mardi Gras Racetrack & Gaming have found a loophole in state law, which will allow them to run a state-approved 24 hour poker room. This is an important event, because it is the first time that a non-Indian poker room has gone 24 hours in Florida, it opens on the 1st of July 2008.

Daily poker rooms were approved by Florida state legislators in 2007 for pari-mutuels, but they only allowed 12 hours per racing permit. Mardi Gras holds two permits, one for itself and one for Biscayne Kennel Club. "Look, I'm big on finding loopholes when I can find them, but only because I'm forced to," said Dan Adkins, President of Mardi Gras "I've got to be creative to compete with the Seminoles because I don't have blackjack and everything else they have."

Adkins, forwarded the argument that because Mardi Gras has two permits, they should be allowed to run each one on top of each other, thus adding up to a full 24hours. Last week it was agreed by the states' Department of Administrative Hearings, that this indeed should be the case.

The three Seminoles casinos in Broward County and the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino all have 24hour poker rooms, also, the Blackjack games began running at these casinos on Sunday. The Seminole group pays around $100,000 to hold the rights for Blackjack and other games. Two racing & gambling casinos in Broward as well as Mardi Gras are forced to pay 10 per-cent taxes on poker and a massive 50 per-cent tax on slot machines. Mardi Gras officials have tried lobbying the state to reduce the level of tax on slot machines to 35 per-cent. In 2008 alone, the Florida poker room industry, which amounts to 23 rooms, has been taxed $7.4 million. In Broward taxes for slot machines have exceeded $116 million- extortionate indeed.

In 2008 Isle Casino and Racing in Pompano Beach has managed to collect a massive $560 million, eight times as much as the Mardi Gras, for poker revenues. They also run more games and have more tournaments, and players are able to buy in for $100, they often also play longer than gamblers at Mardi Gras. However, it has been said that they have different type of clientele who have higher betting limits; Isle Casino are not too worried about the extended play at Mardi Gras, because of the difference in clientele.

The poker rooms are set to move to a different location; there current location has not been refurbished since 2006, when slots were added to the dog track. This year's poker tournaments will often start by 10am and run all the way to 2 am the following day. Adkins has admitted that he can not rely on a prosperous poker year, but is expecting an increase in players as they will be holding more tournaments than ever before.

The Isle Casino and Racing has been awarded a second horse-racing permit and is also considering whether they should open a 24 hours poker room. They will be conducting some research in order to establish if this would be a good economic move for them, says General Manager Michael Bloom.

"The laws are just so crazy, and the Legislature needs to sit down and correct it all, I'm anxiously awaiting the next legislative sessions to fix this broken machine." Said Adkins, who believes the 24 hour poker rooms for Mardi Gras will allow for poker business growth and has even posted a billboard broadcasting the potential growth.