Florida Senate President Bill Galvano said 2020 could be the year of positive developments in gambling in the state. He’s been meeting with House Speaker Jose Oliva, state Senator Travis Hutson and state Rep. Mike LaRosa to discuss gambling, but cautioned residents, “It’s premature to believe that there is a negotiated deal between the chambers. That has not occurred yet.”
Last year, state Senator Wilton Simpson and Hutson reached an agreement with the Seminole Tribe of Florida after Ron DeSantos became governor of Florida. The tribe still holds a monopoly on casino gambling in the state. Simpson had initially rejected a plan between the tribes and the governor but this year seems more open to a proposal that would legalize sports betting at tribal casinos, nontribal horse and dog racetracks and jai alai frontons.
Hutson said negotiations with the Seminole Tribe reached a positive point last spring. But since then, he said, “There has been nothing inked in pen or put in writing that we’ve agreed to. But we do feel like we’ve moved a lot closer towards being able to say that we’re in lockstep and key, and then we will go see the governor. But at this time, we’re not there.”
Tribal officials refuse to participate in negotiations due to designated player card games that continue to be offered at card rooms in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Slots are not allowed in those counties but the lucrative designated player games provide thousands of jobs. The tribe claims the games violate the 2010 tribal-state gaming compact that gave the tribe exclusive rights to offer cards games like blackjack. It filed a lawsuit in federal court over the situation, and a federal judge agreed with the tribe, but the matter is pending appeal.
However, by including the Seminoles in a new agreement, the legislation would seem to bypass a constitutional amendment passed in 2018, giving voters exclusive rights to authorize any gambling expansion in the state. The amendment did not extend to tribal property.
