Bingo hall closes doors before city's vote

The owner of the bingo parlor, which opened after the city approved daily games, says she doesn't yet know if she intends to follow through on her earlier threat to sue.

By MATTHEW WAITE, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 19, 2003

PORT RICHEY -- The Kolokithas family closed its controversial bingo hall Tuesday, shuttering the business a week before a vote that likely would have shut it down.

However, Mollie Kolokithas said Tuesday night that the family hasn't decided what to do about its threat to sue the city if it removes the ordinance allowing bingo in a hall all week long.

"I have no idea yet," Kolokithas said about the lawsuit.

In less than a week, the Port Richey City Council is set to hold a final vote on repealing a bingo ordinance that opened Port Richey to commercial bingo for the first time in 10 years. The council gave first round approval to repealing the ordinance on a 4-1 vote last week.

Kolokithas said it was clear to her, by the council's actions, that her hall was going to be shut down by the city.

"We are closed," she said. "We have bingo equipment for sale."

Last fall, the council unanimously approved an ordinance that allowed a bingo hall to hold two bingo sessions a day, seven days each week. County ordinance, for the past 10 years, has kept commercial bingo halls out of Pasco by limiting the days a hall could hold bingo to two a week.

The Kolokithas family, owners of the local cruise-to-nowhere gambling boat, spent $1-million in February on a building and opened a bingo hall after the council passed the new ordinance.

A majority of council members have said they didn't know what they were doing when they approved the ordinance. They said they didn't realize there was a problem until charities that run bingo games questioned the new ordinance.

Last week, the council voted 4-1, with council member Dale Massad the lone dissenting vote, to repeal the bingo ordinance and go back to the county rule.

Before that vote, the council was given a letter from Kolokithas family attorney A. Brian Albritton that said the family would sue to keep the hall open. Albritton said the family was "encouraged that the proposed ordinance had drawn no opposition" when it was debated and that the council had no rational basis to repeal the ordinance.

City Attorney Paul Marino and Mayor Eloise Taylor, both lawyers, said they thought the city would withstand a lawsuit. Both said the city is within its rights to regulate gambling.

Members of the Suncoast Bingo Council -- a group made up of charities in Pasco that hold bingo games -- were happy last week when the ordinance's repeal was approved. Mario Battista, a member of the council, said the hall closing was "a good thing for Port Richey."

"It's going to keep the gambling crowd from creeping in there," he said.

Kolokithas said the small charities that could have used her hall were the only people hurt by Port Richey's actions.

"There's a heartache there" for the charities, Kolokithas said.

City Council member Phyllis Grae said Tuesday night that she thought Kolokithas wouldn't sue the city because of the controversy over the hall.

"In my heart, I don't think she will," Grae said. "Her image has been tarnished enough. She's a smart businesswoman."

-- Matthew Waite covers Port Richey city government. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6247, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6247. His e-mail address is waite@sptimes.com .

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