Since Monday, pari-mutuels are allowed to apply for a license to operate slot machines in Broward County. Pompano Park Harness and Gulfstream Park, the County’s two horse tracks, have replaced their main executives with managers from the racing/casinos world. The change reflects a new age regarding gaming laws.

The two establishments, together with the Dania Jai-Alai fronton and the Mardi Gras Race Track and Gaming Center, have promised to build huge entertainment complexes with restaurants, luxurious hotels and nightclubs.

Clyde W. Barrow, director of the Center for Policy Analysis at the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth, said: “Slot machines really become a transition into a very different kind of industry, which requires different expertise.” This explains the changes in the leadership of the pari-mutuels.

The new complexes will be inaugurated in two years.