Florida state Rep. Dana Young, a Republican from Tampa, has filed HB 1233, the Gaming Control Act of 2015, a far-reaching, four-bill gambling suite—316 pages she said was intended to start a “much-needed and well-timed conversation” about the future of gambling. She noted getting the support of the industry and enough legislators to pass a gambling bill will be “an enormous, gargantuan lift. I believe it is my responsibility to present members with two competing visions of gaming in Florida so they can ultimately determine which approach they believe represents the best public policy for our state. I believe there are no right or wrong answers. Everything is on the table.”
Young was designated to manage gaming legislation by House Speaker Steve Crisafulli. The Florida legislature convened Tuesday, March 3 and will meet for 60 days.
Under Young’s measure, a total of two destination resort casinos would be allowed in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, and voters would have to approve them. Developers would be required to invest a minimum of $2 billion on each resort. In addition, the legislation would allow slot machines at dog tracks in both Palm Beach and Lee counties, and dog track owners could decouple live greyhound racing from permits for other types of gambling, such as poker rooms. The bill also would decrease the tax rate for racetracks in Broward and Miami-Dade counties that already have slot machines.
Young also has proposed a stand-alone constitutional amendment that would prohibit gambling expansion in the future.
Young said certain provisions of the legislation actually would reduce the amount of gambling in the state. But John Sowinski, president of No Casinos, said, “This bill would cause the biggest expansion of gambling in Florida history. It invites wall-to-wall casino gambling in Florida and the social costs and crime that go with it.”
State Senator Bill Galvano said, “The reality is that with these gaming bills when you try to do something for everyone you wind up doing nothing for anyone.” Galvano was the legislature’s chief negotiator for the Seminole agreement five years ago and has been assigned to oversee the process again.
In recent years the legislature has considered gambling legislation that has gone nowhere. Business groups and Disney lobbyists have strongly opposed any bills allowing casinos, and dog and horse racetrack interests also have opposed expanded gambling bills.
The legislation does not address the provision of the Seminole compact, set to expire in July that allows the Seminole Tribe of Florida to offer blackjack and other banked card games at seven of its nine casinos in exchange for paying the state $1 billion over five years. The deal allows the Seminoles to halt the payments if slot machines exist anywhere outside of Broward and Miami-Dade counties, excluding other tribes’ casinos. The Seminoles also can reduce payments if South Florida parimutuels are allowed to have banked card games, or if slots are authorized at any facilities that were not already operating in Broward or Miami-Dade when the deal was signed in 2010, except for Hialeah Race Track.
Governor Rick Scott’s spokeswoman Jackie Schutz said, “We will take the time that’s needed to get the best deal for the state.” Earlier this year Scott was unable to negotiate a new Seminole compact.
Republican leaders omitted the Seminole’s payment from early budget plans for next year. Senate President Andy Gardiner of Orlando has stated he would not care if the card games went away. “Until that issue gets resolved it’s hard to know if the Senate or the House is interested in even doing anything,” Gardiner said. Galvano noted, “I don’t think there’s any question that President Gardiner is serious when he says he doesn’t feel compelled to act. I myself don’t feel compelled to act. The provision was inserted as part of a 20-year deal, not as the deal itself.”
Added Galvano, “The banked card game component of the compact is the cornerstone of any gaming discussion going forward. But the compact itself does not need to be amended in any way. It will exist for the next 15 years. And there’s a very real possibility that the component containing card games will just self-execute and the tribe will have to remove the cards at the end of 90 days after July.”
He continued, “The tribe’s position was that we would become very accustomed to the dollars. They are significant, there’s no question about that. And there would be an automatic relationship going forward. The difference is, five years ago, the budget situation was drastic. The negotiating position between the state and the tribe was quite dubious given that the cards were already being operated.” Now, he said, “It’s not a time for the tribe to reopen the compact. That’s not what this provision is about. It’s cards or no cards. Once we become comfortable with where that is, that gives us something to gauge a game equity for the existing parimutuels against, or resort destination casinos. I’m not saying that any of those are off the table. But you build from there.”
Galvano added, “I think the governor is prepared to defer to us to the extent necessary to make sure we approach it as a unified front.”
Crisafulli, who said he is “agnostic” on the expanded gambling issue, said, “To me, destination resorts are no different than what Seminoles currently have. I mean, they’re hotels with casinos in them. It’s about deciding do we want more of a presence of one or two or whatever the conversation is being had on those. Or do you want to just let the Seminoles continue to do what they’re doing and renegotiate a compact with them, clean up some of the parimutuel stuff, make it so they have a more competitive environment to operate in and move on.”
Parimutuels in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, with the exception of Gulfstream Park, already may operate slot machines but want to lower slot taxes from 35 percent to 20 percent versus the Seminoles’ revenue-sharing agreement of about a 12-16 percent on revenues, which exceeded $2.2 billion last year. The parimutuels also want to offer table games and want “portability” for parimutuel licenses so they can move or expand their facilities. Dan Adkins, vice president of Hartman & Tyner, owner of the Mardi Gras Casino Florida in Hallandale Beach, said, “It’s so competitive down here with the tribe, it’s really very simple. We just want a business plan that’s equal so that we can compete. Right now the tribe just runs us all over. If I give away a motorcycle, they give away a fleet. If I give away $1,000 in bonus play, they give away $10,000 in bonus play. It’s not just me. It’s all of us,” Adkins said.
Operators of destination casino resorts are more optimistic this year than in the recent past. Nick Iarossi, a lobbyist for the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, said, “To garner the votes to ratify a new compact will be a balancing act. But I’m confident that whatever passes will have a competitive bid for a destination resort contained therein. I feel very confident about it.”
Resorts World Miami, owned by the Malaysia-based Genting Group, also wants to build a Las Vegas-style resort casino in South Florida. Lobbyist Brian Ballard said the company wants the state to address “alternatives, rather than just renewing the monopoly the tribe has.”
Young said the $350 million generated in gaming revenues from the resort casinos would be “significantly more than the current revenue sharing under the Seminole Compact, and the state will enjoy all the related economic benefits from the destination resorts.”
Both proponents and opponents of destination casinos have tossed more than $17 million at candidates and political parties in Florida over the past two years. Las Vegas Sands Corporation Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sheldon Adelson contributed $7.6 million, including $5.5 million to an effort to kill Amendment 2, a medical marijuana proposal opposed by Gov. Rick Scott, and $1.5 million to the Republican Party of Florida. Disney World and affiliated entities contributed nearly $5 million. The Seminoles gave more than $2 million, including $500,000 to “Let’s Get to Work,” a political committee backing Scott.
If the banked-card provision does disappear, tribal lawyer Barry Richard said the Seminoles may not actually have to stop offering the games. He noted Florida gambling regulators have authorized a type of slot machine now in use that simulates blackjack and uses live dealers who deal electronic cards to players. “The only difference between that and a regular table is that instead of handing you an actual card, the dealer pushes a button and a card appears before you on a digital screen. So the argument is that since that’s been approved, therefore the tribe can continue,” Richard said.
In addition, if the legislature does not renew the compact, the tribe could sue the state. Richard said, “The tribe really doesn’t want to be in an adversarial situation with the state. The card games have been very successful for the tribe and the state. Nobody’s been upset with them.”
Tribal spokesman Gary Bitner said the tribe hopes to agree to a new portion of the compact that would benefit both the state and the tribe. However, the Seminoles recently began airing a television ad campaign that calls the compact and its $1 billion in revenues for the state “a partnership that works for Florida.”
Meanwhile, in the Senate, lawmakers unanimously approved the first bill to pass the full chamber this session, which would increase transparency and require better reporting of injuries greyhounds sustain while racing.
