Last year, Florida Governor Rick Scott was quite close to reaching a seven-year, multi-billion-dollar gaming compact renewal with the Seminole Tribe that would have allowed the tribe to add roulette and craps at its South Florida casinos and build a casino in Fort Pierce, according to the Associated Press. The arrangement also would have blocked construction of any Las Vegas-style destination casinos during the compact period. But Scott’s negotiators and tribal officials couldn’t come to terms on the state’s portion of the deal.
The current 2010 agreement approved by the legislature will expire in mid-July. It grants the Seminoles a virtual monopoly on slots outside South Florida as well as exclusive rights to offer banked card games, like blackjack and baccarat, at five of its seven casinos, in return for giving the state about $230 million a year. Over the last five years, the tribe has contributed more than $1 billion.
Under Florida law, dog and horse tracks and jai-alai frontons also can offer poker, and those in Broward and Miami-Dade counties can have slot machines. Craps and roulette are illegal everywhere.
If the state does not renew the deal and “the authorization to offer card games is terminated, the tribe shall have 90 days to close such games.” However, tribal attorney Barry Richard said the Seminoles could sue in federal court or simply continue to offer the card games, since tribes are sovereign nations and Indian gambling is governed by the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. “They’re not looking to be in an adversarial position with the state. This agreement certainly has been lucrative for all involved,” Richard said.
Lobbyist Nick Iarossi of Capital City Consulting, which represents Las Vegas Sands, agreed. “I don’t believe the tribe is going to remove its table games if the legislature allows the compact to expire. Some legislators believe the compact expiration will create leverage. I believe the legislature will be in the same position they were five years ago having to negotiate a compact with a party that has nothing to lose. The time to act is now before the compact expires and negotiate a deal that allows for a competitive market with a destination resort in South Florida.”
The Seminoles still will pay slot machine taxes and other fees to the state if the compact provision is not renewed.
However, although compact negotiations seem to have quieted down, legislators are at work on alternatives before the May 1 session deadline. In the House, Speaker Steve Crisafulli, who claims he’s “agnostic” about renewing the Seminole compact, said, “We’ve had four and a half, five years to see what the compact means to Florida. Now it’s time for us to recognize is this the direction we want to continue to go?”
He said legislators are considering the question of whether Florida should let other gambling concerns offer card games. “Do we want to offer parityto parimutuels? Do we want to let these generational businesses have more of an opportunity to compete with the big guys?” He noted as the House debates a budget, “Responsible budgeting makes it so that you only build a spending plan based on what you know. From a revenue standpoint, I don’t think we can build our budget based on the compact.” Crisafulli’s point person on gambling issues, House Majority Leader Dana Young, added, “This is an opportunity to have full, open discussions with all stakeholders about their vision for the future of gaming in Florida. Everything is on the table.”
In the Florida Senate, preliminary work is ongoing to renew the Seminole compact and to write a bill that could include an array of measures regarding gaming in Florida. But Senate President Andy Gardiner said he “wouldn’t be a bit surprised” if the legislative session ends without a new Seminole compact. “Being anti-gaming, I’m not losing sleep over it either way. You know, if it goes away, it goes away, and we’ll just fight it out in the courts. The Seminoles think they have a good legal standing but you can get 10 attorneys in a room and each one will tell you a different opinion,” Gardiner said.
He noted the tribe’s annual contribution of about $200 million a year toward a $70 billion budget is less than 1 percent. “The president still believes the legislature needs to make a thoughtful decision based on policy, not just on revenue,” spokeswoman Katie Betta said.
