The Florida House Regulatory Affairs Committee heard from more than 30 speakers during a recent four-hour workshop on Majority Leader Dana Young’s 316-page, three-bill gambling package. Panel members received a briefing on gaming law and listened to comments from gambling operators, horse breeders, Las Vegas casino officials, business groups, greyhound industry and protection advocates and anti-gambling Christian conservatives.
Lobbyists for the Seminole Tribe of Florida were present but did not speak. Tribal spokesman Gary Bitner said, “Leaders of the Seminole felt the state did a fine job of sharing the value of the compact, which is not the subject of the three bills filed by Rep. Young. The tribe is focused on the important task at hand, which is to work out a way to keep the table games provision of the compact from expiring in July.”
A portion of the Seminole compact giving the tribe exclusive rights to offer banked card games such as blackjack at five of its seven facilities throughout the state will expire on July 31 unless the legislature reauthorizes it or signs a new agreement. The tribe is running three TV ads promoting renewing compact provision, claiming it has exceeded the $1 billion commitment over the past five years.
The Seminole Tribe has another 15 years left on its slots monopoly outside Miami-Dade and Broward counties, where two proposed destination casino resorts would be located. Under Young’s bill, each would require a $2 billion investment exclusive of land costs. Estimates project those casinos would generate at least $175 million a year in tax revenue for the state–exceeding the existing tribal compact.
Las Vegas Sands Corp lobbyist Nick Iarossi told legislators, “Florida is already a tourist destination and vibrant visitation area, but it can do better, particularly in the trade show and convention areas.” He said the mega-resort casinos would draw a younger, affluent crowd to Florida.
John Sowinski of the anti-gambling group No Casinos told the committee,
“Turning Florida into a casino destination makes about as much sense as a bank getting into the sub-prime mortgage business.” He said “casinos have closed or are teetering” on the brink of bankruptcy from Atlantic City to Mississippi.
The legislation also includes lowering the tax rate on slots at parimutuels from 35 percent to 25 percent, plus it offers a constitutional amendment barring any further gambling expansion. Committee members did not put the bill to a vote. Chairman Jose Felix Diaz the committee would not discuss the bill again for another two weeks, leaving only two weeks before the legislative session ends. Young said gaming bills “never come up until the last couple days of session.”
In the Senate, President Andy Gardiner said, “Given the size of the gaming expansion that the House put out there, and it being the majority leader and everything, we sort of paused. If they really are going to push for extensive expansion, then the Senate will have to figure out what to do. Never say never.” Speaking more bluntly, Senate budget chief Tom Lee added, “Trying to put a gaming bill up in committee was like throwing a side of beef into a shark tank. So good luck in the last three weeks of session trying to bring something in for a landing.”
However, Senate Regulated Industries Committee Chairman Rob Bradley said, “We are negotiating right now with the Seminole Tribe. Those are ongoing negotiations. Whether they will be fruitful or not remains to be seen. The House has taken a very comprehensive approach. We understand that that’s the position of House leadership. If they are able to pass that bill in some form out of the House, then we will workshop it and take a very serious look at it.”
Sources close to the negotiations said topics under discussion have included allowing Miami-Dade and Broward parimutuels, which have slots, to add blackjack; increasing the tribe’s revenue-sharing amounts; and give the Seminoles exclusive rights to roulette and craps.
