The Seminole Tribe of Florida is awaiting a response from Governor Rick Scott to its June 24 letter seeking a meeting to review the tribe’s Class III gaming compact. Key provisions of the current deal will expire at the end of this month, including exclusive rights for the tribe to offer banked card games in return for giving the state billion over five years.
However, Scott has yet to reply to the tribe’s letter, in which Seminole Tribe Chairman James Billie told Scott if the governor does not reopen negotiations, the tribe will pursue mediation. Billie said if mediation is unsuccessful, the tribe may file a lawsuit in federal court.
Billie said even after the compact provisions expire, the Seminoles will continue to offer banked table games because, the tribe claims, the state has allowed non-Indian facilities to offer the same types of banked card games. But Billie added the tribe would continue to share revenues with the state as a “gesture of good faith.”
