Palm Beach Post – A Florida House committee took a first glance Thursday at a gambling plan that would create a gaming commission, do away with inactive pari-mutuel permits and rein in barrel racing and other types of horse racing that one Republican lawmaker called “sham” activities. The Florida Select Committee on Gaming debated the 411-page plan and a proposed constitutional amendment that would give voters the power to decide whether gambling should be expanded in the future. The proposed amendment would have no impact on whatever lawmakers approve this year, including whether to authorize Las Vegas-style casino resorts that…

Orlando Sentinel – The casino-hotel talk in Tallahassee has gone on for more than two years, so what’s one more week? Sen. Garrett Richter, head of the Senate committee on gaming, had planned to release a draft of a comprehensive gambling bill on Monday. But he announced Friday that his bill will need to wait a week, after the committee failed to complete its agenda during a two-hour session on Monday. “As it turned out, we did not finish the workshop on ‘elements and options’ for inclusion in the proposed committee bill,” Richter, R-Naples, wrote in a memo released Friday….