City bets on slot machines

APRIL FOOLS —

Earlier this month, the city of Sarasota voted to end its paid parking program after months of debate and decision reversals. Because the city will no longer collect the revenue from the parking program, commissioners held an emergency meeting Tuesday to decide their next move.

In a unanimous vote, the City Commission has decided to take a gamble on slot machines.

Because the commission is concerned the Legislature will open gambling to non-Indian tribe Florida properties, commissioners said they wanted “to be ahead of the game.”

“If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,” said one commissioner.

The new program, titled “Pay While You Play,” allows customers to park in front of one of 500 slot machines in front of parking spaces throughout the downtown core. There is no maximum amount of time one can spend at certain machine, but in order to change machines, you have to move your car to a new spot. Residents who attended a gambling planning charrette earlier this week voiced concerns about potential gaming issues.

“What if I am on a roll and I have some driver honking at me because they want my spot?” asked one concerned citizen.

Gamers may step away from their machines for a maximum of 30 minutes, as long as they flip their machine to a “BRB,” or “Be Right Back,” indication. Residents felt this was enough time to grab a quick bite to eat at the many restaurants in the area or do some fast window-shopping.

However, if a resident fails to return to their machine in time, it will automatically switch back to the “Open for Business” sign, and their car will be subject to being towed.

Additional parking enforcement staff will be on hand to help tow cars to a nearby empty lot, dubbed the “game over” lot, if an owner fails to return to his slot machine in time.

Commissioners felt this new program would be a win-win for merchants in the area.

“Not only will they benefit from increased activity downtown, but they might just get lucky if their store is located in front of a winning slot machine,” said one commissioner.

Each month, a random slot machine will reward a player with $100,000 in players tokens that can be used at either the slot machines or area restaurants. In addition, the business located nearest to the winning machine will receive a matching $100,000 to use for beautification in front of their stores.

The city hopes to use the money from the slot machine revenue to construct a new parking garage adjacent to downtown. With only a finite number of slot machines, city engineers feel there could be as many as 3,000 cars waiting at any given in time to zip into a parking spot and try their luck.

To market the idea, the Sarasota Convention and Visitors Bureau will ramp up interest by dubbing Main Street “The Sarasota Strip.” The marketing campaign tagline is: “Come play in paradise.”

Social standing
The use of social media tools, such as Facebook and Twitter, to increase awareness of the slot machine program is encouraged. Each slot machine will be numbered, and you can Tweet about whether you are having good luck or bad luck on a machine using the hashtag: #SarasotaStrip. Likewise, update your Facebook status while you gamble downtown.