Today is the deadline for Seminole gambling compact
by Miami Herald | August 31st, 2009
PATRICK FARRELL/MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Aida Perez of Summerville, S.C., plays the slot machines at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida and Gov. Charlie Crist have until today to agree on a gambling compact that would allow slot machines, blackjack and other banked card games at the tribal casinos.
The Seminoles voted to approve a compact at a behind-closed-doors meeting Friday, but sources say the council refused to accept some provisions sought by the Legislature.
If Crist signs the agreement, he is expected to call a special session in October to have lawmakers sign off on the deal, as required by law.
Last week, the governor and the tribe agreed to a plan to pay the state $150 million a year in exchange for operating the games at all seven of its casinos.
But that went further than the guidelines set by the Legislature, which authorized the card games only at the tribe’s Hard Rock casinos in Hollywood and Tampa and its two other casinos in Broward.
But the Seminoles refusal to agree to state lawmakers’ demands may be a deal-breaker.
After weeks of negotiations this summer, the House’s lead negotiator, Rep. Bill Galvano, agreed to give the tribe card games at its Immokalee casino, but in turn wanted to allow for the option of casino games to be offered in Palm Beach County, Jacksonville and North Florida if legislators or voters approved them.
The tribe rejected that condition.
He said earlier this week that if the tribe failed to agree to the changes legislators sought and came back with a compact that “deviates significantly from where we intended to go,” the Legislature would be unlikely to accept it.
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August 31st, 2009 at 11:28 am
I think this is good for South Florida’s economy… Face it, no one makes you gamble, The dollars Floridians do spend in Las Vegas & in the Bahamas could be kept in our local economy, plus additional tourism would be drawn from Atlantic City, Vegas, etc. Why have tourists just pass through our airports, as an exit…? Employement should rise in related industies.