Members of the Florida Senate Regulated Industries Committee held a workshop last week to hear testimony regarding the proposed Seminole compact negotiated by Governor Rick Scott and Seminole Chairman James Billie. Among over provisions, it would allow the tribe to offer banked card games like blackjack plus craps and roulette in exchange for billion over seven years.
Several senators questioned where that revenue would be directed, since Scott has proposed $1 billion in tax cut and state economists recently lowered Florida’s projected surplus by $388 million. State Senator Jack Latvala said, “What could happen here, conceivably, if we pass this compact, is we would generate this revenue, but then this revenue could conceivably then immediately go out in a tax cut for C-corporations.”
The compact also would permit, but does not authorize, slot machines in Palm Beach County and at a new facility in Miami-Dade County, limited blackjack at parimutuels in Broward and Miami-Dade counties and decoupling, or allowing parimutuels to stop running races in favor of more lucrative cardroom or slot operations.
Latvala also raised concerns about the expansion of slot machines in Palm Beach County, one of six counties where voters have approved slots at local parimutuels. Latvala questioned Scott’s Policy Director Jeff Woodburn why the other five counties were not allowed to have slots. “So regardless of the fact that Lee, Gadsden, Washington, Hamilton and Brevard have voted to allow slot machines, basically this compact you’ve negotiated said, ‘No, we don’t care.’ You’ve taken care of Palm Beach, but you haven’t taken care of the other counties, is that correct?” Woodburn replied, “The market already has the competition in that county area” and currently there is no exclusivity in South Florida.
The current arrangement with the Seminoles allows parimutuels in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, just south of Palm Beach, to have slots.
Federal law requires that tribes have “exclusivity” regarding some aspect of gambling in order to justify revenue-sharing agreements with states.
Under the proposed compact, the Seminoles agreed to add slots at Palm Beach County at the state’s insistence although they’d prefer no slots outside of Miami-Dade and Broward, Seminole Gaming Chief Executive Officer Jim Allen told the committee. “It’s not to say that one particular county is right or wrong. When you address this question, we have to understand the economics that go with a $3 billion guarantee.”
State Senator Gwen Margolis commented she was “disturbed” that the compact would allow another gambling operation in her county. “This is a place that doesn’t need it. You can’t move in traffic now and you can’t find a hotel room,” she said.
Committee Chairman Rob Bradley said he hasn’t decided yet whether to put the proposed compact into bill form, and it may not get a vote before the 2016 legislative session ends in March.
Meanwhile, the Seminole tribe has launched a statewide advertising campaign to promote the proposed compact. Two 30-second TV spots will run on broadcast and cable television stations in Tampa, Miami, Orlando, West Palm Beach, Jacksonville, Ft. Myers, Mobile-Pensacola, Tallahassee, Panama City and Gainesville, and online.
One ad, “Sovereign,” traces the history of the Seminole tribe and its relationship with the state, and the other, “Letter,” highlights excerpts from Scott’s letter about the compact.
The Florida Chamber of Commerce also recently released results of a poll showing three-quarters of voters said blackjack at Seminole casinos “has been good for the state.”
The anti-gambling, Orlando-based group No Casinos also is running a three-pronged campaign against the compact, which President John Sowinski has said will “lead to the largest gambling expansion in state history.” Sowinski said the group plans to lobby the legislature against not only the agreement with the Seminoles, but any attempt to expand the state lottery. Plus, it will continue to be involved with the Gretna Racing case before the Florida Supreme Court and will work toward placing an anti-gambling amendment in the state constitution.
Sowinski has called gambling an “economic parasite in our state. More gambling would not add to our economy, it would prey on it.” He said, “When I talk to gambling industry people, I feel like I’m having a conversation with my kids – ‘I want to play Xbox for an hour.’ And two hours later, they’re still on the Xbox.”
Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle dismissed a request from Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and set a July date for a two-week trial that will determine if the Seminole Tribe of Florida can continue to offer blackjack and other banked card games at its casinos. A gambling compact the tribe and the state signed in 2010 allowing the games expired last year. In October, tribal officials filed a lawsuit in federal court, claiming the state was negotiating a new compact “bad faith” and asking the federal judge to allow the tribe to continue to offer blackjack. The Seminole tribe also alleges Florida violated the 2010 compact by allowing certain types of card games at the state’s pari-mutuels.
Seminole Gaming Chief Executive Officer Jim Allen said the tribe would drop the lawsuit if the proposed new compact is passed. The state filed its own lawsuit claiming the casinos had to stop offering the banked card games.
The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act requires that all states negotiate the terms of gambling compacts with tribes in good faith. But Florida officials argued the federal law only applies to negotiations over initial agreements.
Hinkle ruled the state’s contention was “plainly wrong.” He said states are required to negotiate a new deal or renegotiate an existing one before a compact expires.
“Any reading of the act that would suggest a state has no duty to negotiate at that time would make no sense — it would mean that when a state’s first compact with a tribe ended, the state would be relieved of any obligation to negotiate a new or extended compact,” he wrote. Hinkle also consolidated the tribe’s and the state’s lawsuits.
