Although the Seminole Tribe of Florida is not required to pay Florida a share of revenue from blackjack and other banked card games, the tribe recently paid the state .5 million in gambling revenue share from the card games, according to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation which regulates gambling. The tribe offers the card games at its Tampa and Hollywood locations, and offers slot machines at all seven of its casinos. Including the recent payment, the Seminoles have given .5 million to the state this year, said DBPR spokesman Stephen Lawson.
For the time being, Lawson said, the blackjack funds are “administratively segregated” in the General Revenue Fund until the tribe and state reach an agreement. The tribe has been making the payments “in good faith” as it awaits a new agreement with the state. A blackjack provision from the 2010 Seminole Compact expired in 2015. Governor Rick Scott negotiated a new blackjack deal in return for $3 billion to the state over seven years but lawmakers rejected it. In 2016, a federal judge ruled that the state broke the original deal by allowing other card games similar to blackjack at parimutuel card rooms, and granted the tribe blackjack rights through 2030.
This year, lawmakers once again did not pass a gambling bill. The renewed compact, which had been rolled into the legislation, also failed. The original agreement resulted in more than $200 million a year in revenue share to the state. Blackjack, slots and other gambling has generated billions of dollars for the tribe.
Meanwhile, credit company Fitch Ratings recently assigned a “BBB” rating to the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s announced loans to expand the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino properties in Hollywood and Tampa. The BBB rating reflects “the diminishing uncertainty over the tribe’s ability to continue offering table games and established track record of adherence to prudent financial policies,” Fitch stated in a press release.
The statement continued, “Fitch views STOF’s planned expansion favorably given the strength in the underlying operating environment and benefits it will provide to STOF’s competitive position. The tribe continues to experience steady, positive operating trends, compared to more flat growth seen in other U.S. gaming markets. Overall, the tribe’s seven casinos took in about $2.3 billion in 2016. STOF has sizable gaming operations in two distinct, populous Florida markets and benefits from having no competition in Tampa and limited competition in southeast Florida.”
Fitch also noted the tribe has the right to offer banked table games at its seven locations for the 20-year term of its compact, ending 2030. The state appealed the decision and a court date is pending. The report also said the likelihood of increasing competition is “benign,” particularly since in May the Florida Supreme Court ruled against counties holding voter referendums to determine the addition of slot operations.
Fitch also noted the recent election of Tribal Chairman Marcellus Osceola Jr. and noted the tribe’s reserves now would cover six months of governmental operations, including per capita payments. Prior to the election the reserves covered less than a month of operations.
Fitch’s is likely to maintain the Seminole’s high rating with the announcement that its Hard Rock International division will open a 200-room Hard Rock Hotel Daytona Beach later in the year. Gambling will not be offered. Other Hard Rock Florida properties are located in Tampa and Hollywood, which both include casinos, and Orlando.
The new beachfront hotel, Hard Rock’s fourth property in Florida, will feature all-day dining, 24-hour room service, a coffee shop and poolside bar and grill, plus 20,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space, including meeting rooms with ocean views and an open-air terrace.
Hard Rock recently purchased the former Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City, and announced a deal to open a Hard Rock Casino in Ottawa, Canada. The company also has plans to build a $1 billion casino in northern New Jersey, just outside New York City.
Last year the Seminole Tribe consolidated its control over the Hard Rock hotel and casino brand by buying out remaining rights from the owner-operator of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
