A day after the Florida Senate voted 39-1 to approve a gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe of Florida, the House voted 97-17 to pass the underlying bill, SB 2A, which now will be sent to Governor Ron DeSantis.
The governor and the tribe announced they had reached an agreement on the deal last month. Under the compact’s terms, the state will receive at least $2.5 billion over the next five years and an estimated $20 billion over the course of the 30-year deal.
In exchange, the tribe will control sports betting in the state; the wagers will be allowed at tribal casinos and via a mobile app. The tribe will also control sports betting at existing horse tracks and former dog racing facilities via its new Hard Rock Digital platform.
In addition, the Seminoles will be allowed to build three new casinos in Hollywood, Florida, the location of a Hard Rock Casino, and add Las Vegas-style table games like craps and roulette.
In a statement, DeSantis said, “With this new compact, the state will now see a large stream of reoccurring revenue to the tune of billions of dollars over the next few years. The deal will also create over 2,000 jobs. I want to thank the Seminole Tribe of Florida Chairman Marcellus Osceola Jr., Senate President Wilton Simpson, House Speaker Chris Sprowls and the entire Florida legislature for getting this done for our great state.”
If the U.S. Department of Interior approves the compact, the Seminoles can launch sports betting on October 15 and operate sports wagering at racetracks, former racetracks and jai alai frontons for a share of the revenue. The tribe also will operate mobile sports betting.
Interior has 45 days to accept or reject the language of the compact.
Seminole Chairman Osceola issued a statement saying “all the people of Florida are winners” with the new compact.
“It is a historic and mutually beneficial partnership between the state and Seminole Tribe that will positively impact all Floridians for decades to come. … I must also thank our entire team for such a meaningful outcome and specifically Seminole Gaming Chief Executive Officer Jim Allen for leading the negotiations,” he said.
The sports betting provision is expected to trigger a legal challenge. State Rep. Guillermo Smith said, “We are told that this compact doesn’t violate Amendment 3,” passed in 2018, which states that gambling only can be approved by voters, not lawmakers. “Why? We’re told it doesn’t violate Amendment 3 because it’s not an expansion of gambling because of course sports betting on our phone app is happening through servers on tribal land. LOL.”
State Rep. Randy Fine, who chaired the House Select Committee on Gaming and is a former casino executive, noted, “You’re going to be able to make bets on your mobile device on sports. You can’t do that today. Whether that’s a legal expansion that violates Amendment 3, that is for a judge to decide.” He added, “Me personally, I don’t think it’s going to survive.”
However, Fine urged lawmakers to support the compact because of the large amount of state revenue the agreement would produce, with or without sports betting. The compact is expected to generate at least $500 million per year with sports betting and a minimum of $400 million per year without it. The tribe hasn’t made any payments to the state for gaming rights since 2019.
Online sports betting would be based on a “hub and spoke model” spelled out in the compact, where the tribal reservation is the hub and parimutuels are the spokes. Servers on the tribe’s reservation would process sports bets placed on mobile phones or at parimutuel facilities, even if the bettor using a mobile phone is not located on tribal grounds.
State Rep. Sam Garrison, co-sponsor of legislation related to the compact, said there is no clear legal precedent whether the hub and spoke model would be considered expanded gambling. “It is an open question, and it’s going to have to be litigated, because it’s not a black and white answer that specifically tells us whether the hub and spoke model is going to be permitted or not,” Garrison said.
No Casinos, the Orlando-based group behind Amendment 3, financed largely by Disney and, ironically, the Seminoles, said the compact is clearly unconstitutional and would violate Amendment 3 without a statewide referendum. Florida and tribal officials maintain because the servers are on tribal land, Seminole gaming operations are governed under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, not the state.
The group’s president, John Sowinski. said, “This fight is just beginning. We are committed to ensuring that the will of the people, who voted by a remarkable landslide to give Florida voters the exclusive right to authorize casino gambling in our state, will be respected. The legislature is not the final say on this matter. This compact is more of a buffet for gambling interests than sound policy for the state.” Sowinski said a lawsuit will be filed soon.
State Rep. Mike Grieco of Miami said, “When I hear this does not trigger Amendment 3, I think it’s laughable. We’re going to be in court. We’re going to lose, and we’re going to see this on the ballot. If you vote yes on this compact, you are voting to expand gambling in the state of Florida.”
Lawmakers also sent DeSantis a bill creating the Florida Gaming Control Commission to regulate pari-mutuels and enforce gambling rules and regulations. Another bill going to the governor would allow jai alai frontons, dog racetracks and a harness racetrack in Miami-Dade and Broward counties to keep operating slots and card rooms without holding live events. Other Florida parimutuels would be able to continue operating card rooms without live events, with the exception of thoroughbred horseracing tracks, which would be required to hold live racing.
However, Fine explained, the new commission would have no authority over the Seminole Tribe.
“You have to think of the Seminole Nation literally as Mexico or Canada or the Bahamas. They are a sovereign nation and in federal Indian gaming law, they regulate themselves. It’s not a policy option available to us to regulate them,” he said.
While the state has no regulatory authority over Indian gaming in this case, the federal government does. The Department of Interior and the National Indian Gaming Commission will both have to sign off on the compact before it becomes effective.
