TALLAHASSEE -- A lawsuit aimed at scratching slot machines from some state racetracks has finally made its way to the Florida Supreme Court.

If the suit succeeds it could kick slot machines out of all Broward County racetracks and could affect an upcoming ballot to decide the issue in Miami-Dade County. The suit has not yet been to trial.

Broward County voters allowed slots onto facilities - including horse tracks, dog tracks and jai-alai arenas - that already allow parimutuel betting in a 2004 ballot. Miami-Dade voters narrowly rejected the measure at the time but get another vote in January 2008.

Pro-gambling pressure group Floridians for a Level Playing Field (FLPF) has appealed to the Supreme Court a decision by the state's First District Court of Appeals in Tallahassee to reinstate the suit. A Tallahassee circuit judge had previously tossed it on a technicality.

Anti-gambling group Floridians Against Expanded Gambling (FAEG) and two others first filed suit in 2004 against the original referendum allowing slots at the tracks. FAEG claimed some signatures on the original petition were fraudulent.

The Supreme Court began hearing arguments Monday on the appeal (docket# SC06-2505), the origin of which was filed before the 2004 ballot. The top bench must now decide whether the anti-slots coalition can challenge signatures after they've been certified and whether such a ruling could invalidate subsequent votes.

Fraud is the key issue, maintains anti-gambling coalition attorney John Pelzer of Tallahassee-based law firm Ruden McClosky. "A very high percentage of people whose names appeared on petitions said they never signed," Pelzer recently told the Miami Herald.

But Bruce A. Rogow, representing FLFP, in confident the long-established popularity of track betting in the Sunshine State will win the day. "In the long run, this is much ado about very little," Rogow told the Herald. "The parimutuels will prevail in one fashion or another."

If Miami-Dade voters approve and FLPF wins its appeal, slot machines will be allowed at Miami Jai-Alai, Flagler Dog Track and Calder Race Course. An FLPF loss could re-set the clock to the pre-2004 gambling regime, although the SC could also send the case to trial.