The Florida legislature’s special session will open Monday, October 19, but gambling bills will not be on the agenda, said state Senator Rob Bradley, chairman of the Regulated Industries committee, who has been in discussions with the Seminole Tribe of Florida regarding a new gaming compact. The final date the state and the tribe can renegotiate a compact is October 29.
“We’re making significant progress with the tribe and I feel like we’re heading in the right direction, but we’re not there yet,” Bradley said. He added there is a “better than 50 percent” chance the two sides will come to terms on a new agreement. “We’re at a place where the taxpayers will be seeing a significantly higher share from the tribe than they currently receive. That would be hundreds of millions of dollars that we could use to invest in education, infrastructure or other core services,” Bradley said.
Several sources have indicated as part of a new 20-year compact, the Seminoles would guarantee a minimum $3 billion over seven years in exchange for continuing to offer blackjack and adding craps and roulette. Part of the revenue would supplement purses for thoroughbred horse races at Gulfstream Racetrack and Tampa Bay Downs.
The latest proposal also would ban player-banked card games now offered at several parimutuels in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Parimutuels in other counties could continue to run the games. The Seminoles claim those games, which were authorized by state gambling regulators in 2011, violated the tribe’s rights to exclusively offer banked card games. A provision of the 2010 gaming compact, which expired this summer, gave the tribe exclusive rights to operate banked card games for five years in exchange for a minimum payment of $1 billion.
Without a renewed compact, the state could ask a federal judge to order the tribe to shut down the games. However, earlier this year, tribal attorneys said since the state broke its promise of exclusivity when it allowed other casinos to offer electronic blackjack and player-banked poker, the tribe can continue to offer blackjack and other card games until 2030 and not have to pay any money to the state. Chairman James Billie, however, said the tribe will continue to share revenues with the state a “gesture of good faith.”
If an agreement is reached, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior and the Florida legislature would have to approve it. Senate Majority Leader Bill Galvano, who, as a House member, helped negotiate the 2010 deal with the Seminoles, noted, “The state of the economy is completely different than it was when the original deal was inked back in 2010. At the time the deal was put together, the state budget was enhanced by $435 million. Now, we’re in a situation where the economy is much better. We’re not spending or counting on the dollars from the Seminole Tribe. And we’re not dealing with a governor who is defending an existing deal as being valid, like we were with Governor Crist back then.”
Other issues being considered by Bradley’s committee do not directly impact the Seminoles but address the state’s parimutuels. A Palm Beach County dog track could have slot machines; a new gambling operation in Miami-Dade County also could offer slots; and dog tracks could decouple racing from lucrative card rooms. Currently, parimutuels are required to have racing or jai alai games in order to offer card rooms or slots.
House Regulatory Affairs Chairman Jose Felix Diaz said, “Right now we’ve been singularly focused on the compact because it’s the off-season. But we’re about to ramp up and start swallowing water out of the fire hose. So where Rob Bradley and I have been able to fully dedicate ourselves to this negotiation over the past few months, now I’m going to have to be digesting insurance bills and energy bills and business regulation bills that come before my committee. The timeline for an easy landing is winding
Meanwhile, the recent University of South Florida-Nielsen Sunshine State Survey indicated support for casino gambling is growing, with two-thirds of Floridians support allowing casinos, with only 20 percent opposed. An earlier 2012 Quinnipiac University poll showed support for gambling at 48 percent and opposition at 43 percent. Miami/Palm Beach residents support casino gambling slightly more than the state average, 37 percent to 34 percent. And in response to the question, “Is the state headed in the right direction or wrong direction” on casino gambling, 42 percent said wrong and 30 percent said.
The telephone poll was conducted in late July and early August among 1,251 Floridians. It has a margin of error of 2.77 percent.
