Florida Governor Rick Scott recently announced a deal with the Seminole Tribe, which would continue paying $19.5 million a month, or $300 million annually to the state through the 2019 legislative session. In return, the tribe would continue to have exclusive rights to offer blackjack at its casinos and slots outside Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Scott said, “Today, I am proud to announce that the state of Florida has reached an agreement with the Seminole Tribe which ensures the tribe’s current commitment remains intact. Since I took office, the 2010 Seminole compact has generated more than $1.75 billion which has helped our state make historic investments in things like Florida’s education and environment.” He added “the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation will continue its work of aggressively following and enforcing Florida’s strict gaming laws and rules.”
Meanwhile, Senate President Joe Negron confirmed that because of “budget unpredictability, uncertainty as to the effect of a proposed constitutional amendment and potential challenges in limiting the scope of the call,” a special session will not be held.
Incoming House Speaker state Rep. Jose Oliva and incoming Senate President state Senator Bill Galvano continue to negotiate gambling legislation before the November election, when voters will consider Amendment 3, backed by Disney Worldwide and the Seminole Tribe. If the constitutional amendment gets the 60 percent of the vote, it would give voters, not lawmakers, control over future gambling expansion.
Galvano stated, “The constitutional amendment will either change the playing field completely, or leave the status quo and, if we wanted to make legislative decisions that might otherwise be wrested away from us if the amendment passes, we would need to do that before November.”
Finalizing a compromise gambling bill between HB 7067 and SB 840 before November also would benefit House and Senate leaders up for re-election, seeking campaign contributions from the gaming industry. In general, the Senate measure supports expanding designated player games, but the House bill declares them illegal. The Senate bill legalizes fantasy sports betting and the House does not. The Senate legislation would “partially decouple” horse and greyhound racetracks from requiring them to offer slots only during live racing events.
Also the Senate bill would allow slots in six counties where voters have approved them, and only at parimutuels that have purchased a live permit from another parimutuel operator elsewhere in the state; this would allow lawmakers to say they’ve reduced gaming in the state. The new gambling venues would be required to guarantee a certain level of revenue to the state. In Broward County, Jeff Soffer, owner of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, would be allowed to move the permit from the Mardi Gras Casino and Racetrack in Hallandale Beach to another location, but only within Broward County and not to his Miami Beach hotel.
Galvano said since this legislative proposal would violate the 2010 Seminole compact, the governor would be given the authority to renegotiate the deal and give the tribe additional games and locations, and the tribe would pay less to the state. Oliva added, “The goal is foremost a contraction” in the total amount of gaming in Florida. He said he’s seeking “a mechanism that is equitable to all.”
The new agreement would guarantee until May 2019 that the tribe would continue to pay a share of gambling revenue to the state. The tribe never threatened to end the payments; however, tribal attorney Barry Richard said that would be within their rights, given a federal judge’s ruling. He said the new deal “was intended as a level of comfort to anybody in the legislature or the governor’s office or anywhere else that had any concerns that the tribe was intending to end the payments, which we never intended to do. So we gave people comfort.”
Seminole Tribe Chairman Marcellus Osceola Jr. said the new pact will give the tribe the certainty it needs to invest more than $2.4 billion in expanding casinos in Tampa and Hollywood and begin “hiring thousands of Floridians to fill jobs in construction and as permanent team members.” He stated, “The gaming compact, which runs through the year 2030, is good for the people of Florida and good for the members of the Seminole Tribe, which intends to continue making revenue sharing payments as spelled out in the agreement.”
One cause for cancelling payments, however, would be if a legislative package included daily fantasy sports. If DFS would qualify as gambling, it would be considered an expansion of online gaming in the state, which the Seminole compact specifies could lead to reducing or stopping gaming revenue payments to the state.
Sports betting would have to be limited to brick-and-mortar locations to avoid violating the current compact. However, the Seminole Tribe could eventually want to open sports books at their Hard Rock-themed venues throughout the state. The tribe is expected to open a sports book at its Hard Rock property in Atlantic City.
