Greater Baton Rouge Business Report: There's no money in wide open spaces

Theologians may debate how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, but the Gaming Control Board recently focused all of its mental powers on as tricky a question, with a lot more money riding on it. That is, how much room does it take to play a slot machine?

Ah, your gambling regulatory dollars at work. The issue arises as Louisiana gambling takes on yet another new form, slot machines at race tracks. The first such track, Delta Downs, hopes to begin reeling in Texas gamblers just as soon as the gaming board approves a floor plan that would cram as many slot machines as legally possible into its spanking new facility at the once-forlorn race course in Vinton. Millions of dollars hang on the legal definition of gaming space, not just for Delta Downs, but for two other "racinos" to be in Bossier City and St. Landry Parish, and even, if the gaming board has its way, for the state's 15 riverboats.

If time is money for lawyers, every square foot of gaming space is a precious commodity for casinos, which are limited to 30,000 square feet on riverboats and 15,000 square feet at the race track slot parlors. (By contrast, Harrah's in New Orleans, with 100,000 square feet and not always enough customers, has room to play with.)

You and I might think gaming space is the area inside a gambling hail's four walls, minus the bathrooms and the money cage. The citizens of Calcasieu Parish thought so, too. They voted to approve slots at the Vinton track last year after its former owner assured the public the facility would hold only 500 machines.

But then, months later, the gaming board used state fire marshal rules to define gaming space as the actual footprint of the slot machine and the player's chair drawn very snugly to it-- about 8.5 square feet, which works out to about 1,700 slot machines at Delta Downs.

The area immediately behind the player's chair, the interior aisle, was deemed not gaming space but an evacuation route, to be used in the event of fire or sudden bankruptcy. In between emergencies, these evacuation routes are available for gamblers with long legs and cocktail waitresses plying the players with free drinks.

Besides being made to look a tad foolish, Calcasieu officials had good reason to protest. Not only would Delta Downs be a much larger expansion of gambling than it was sold as, but it would draw more players away from area riverboats, thus decreasing the boarding fees paid to municipalities such as Westlake.

"When something is said to be one way and it turns out another way, something is wrong," protested Westlake Mayor Dudley Dixon to the Gaming Control Board.

"Welcome to the world of gaming," answered board Chairman Hillary Crain, who said the law bound the board to follow the fire marshal's rules in separating evacuation routes from gaming space.

But area riverboats would not be brushed off so easily. Both Isle of Capri and Harrah's filed lawsuits and asked a Baton Rouge judge to enjoin the gaming board from issuing a final license.

As the motion for the injunction was argued in court Thanksgiving week, the gaming board was trying to come up with a consistent definition of gaming space that would apply to both race tracks and riverboats. It was no easy task. Board members were soon thoroughly perplexed about the different kinds of evacuation routes, blue areas and yellow areas, fire marshal rules and Coast Guard regulations, and just what it was they were supposed to be deciding. For measurement purposes, a State Police trooper sat in front of a slot machine--in plain clothes, thankfully--to demonstrate a reasonable playing area. About 30 inches from the front of the machine to the back of the player's chair was shown to be comfy for your mid-size gambler, but that was at odds with the fire marshal's rule that only 19 indhes is needed.

The matter was nowhere near resolution when, mercifully, a messenger whispered in Crain's ear that the district judge had granted the injunction, which ended the board's discussion.

So the matter is in the hands of lawyers, which should clear things up nicely. Meanwhile, as Louisiana struggles to apply logic and consistency to its gambling laws, the rest of the casino world looks on, as usual, with great amusement.

In its weird little roundabout way, Louisiana may have hit upon. the ideal way to elect Supreme Court justices.

In balloting recently in South Louisiana, Judge John Weimer prevailed over Judge Mary Becnel, 51 percent to 49 percent.

Instead of resorting to a negative slimefest of TV attack ads, both Becnel and Weimer stuck to their promises to run positive campaigns. As a result, voters were not turned off by the election but then neither did many turn out. A paltry 16 percent of registered voters bothered to go to the polls to select one of seven justices who have the final say on interpreting the state's Constitution and regulating the legal profession.

Many will bemoan such a dismal voter participation, but not me. Never having subscribed to the notion that high election turnout produces good government, a 16 percent participation tells me that the voters who cared enough to go to the trouble to choose a Supreme Court justice make as good or better decisions than the masses in a big multi-race election.

Maybe future justices contemplating retirement should take a cue from former Justice Harry Lemmon and step down before the end of their terms. Then the governor could call a special election for a time when there would be little or no other candidate elections on the ballot.

In that way, the Supreme Court election would not be just another down ballot contest and afterthought for most voters choosing a president, congressman, mayor and town marshal. In a special, exclusive election, only voters interested in picking a Supreme Court justice would make the decision.

Why treat that office differently? Because the law already does so. Candidates for judge are governed by the Code of Judicial Ethics that prohibits candidates from talking about issues that may come before them in litigation.

A number of other states do not use the ballot box at all to choose Supreme Court justices but rather rely on blue-ribbon commissions to select highly qualified and experienced jurists of diverse backgrounds and philosophies. Merit selection will never happen here, given the difficulty this Legislature has in making appointive certain elected offices that are proven jail bait.

A fitting compromise would be to make Supreme Court elections separate and special and let them be decided by a mix of super-chronic voters and those really interested in that office, the supreme electors.

An hour to lose

Low turnout elections always make me appreciate the real heroes of representative democracy. Not the voters, the poll commissioners. The voting system we take for granted relies on a committed cadre of citizens who put in 14-hour days to make your 60 seconds or less in the booth go smoothly arid to have your vote count.

But there is trouble at the precincts. Clerks of court and voting registrars have been warning that it is getting harder and harder to find and retain competent commissioners. The problem is not the pay but the long hours, especially the 6 a.m. poll opening. Even if voting hours were shortened from 7 am. to 8 p.m., Louisiana would still have the longest voting day in the nation. Statistics show that a large percentage of the few people who vote in the first hour are poll commissioners. Most of the rest are early risers who could vote as easily at 7 am.

Certainly there are people who work all day Saturday and many hunters and fishermen who vote and then disappear into the woods for the day. They could be accommodated by changing absentee voting to early voting for two weeks prior to any election at the courthouse or satellite office.

This year the Legislature toyed with, then killed a bill by Rep. Kay Katz, R-Monroe, to change to a 13-hour voting day and to expand the early voting period. Lawmakers were spooked by a handful of early-voting enthusiasts who labeled any change as an abrogation of voting rights and a coddling of poll commissioners. But opening the polls an hour later and expanding early voting would hardly affect turnout--it could increase it--while it would lighten the load on those who are carrying our election system on their backs.

John Maginnis is a Louisiana-based, syndicated political columnist. He also publishes the Louisiana Political Fax Weekly.