Fresh off vacation, Palm Beach County Commission Chairman Burt Aaronson said a casino might be just the boost the embattled Glades region needs.

“It is something to think about,” he said.

Aaronson, a cruise maven and tourism booster, also said the county should do more to help bring slots to the Palm Beach Kennel Club. The club, he said, has been at a “disadvantage” since state lawmakers allowed Broward’s parimutuel facilities to have slots. (more…)

House Speaker Larry Cretul asked federal officials to intervene in gambling talks between Florida and the Seminoles, saying negotiations “are at an impasse.”

Cretul wrote a letter today to National Indian Gaming Commission Chairman George Skibine, who met with the speaker and the House’s chief gambling negotiator Bill Galvano yesterday, asking the feds to fine the Indians or shut them down.

Crist this week said he wanted lawmakers to address the gambling compact in a special session in December.

Cretul’s letter indicates that’s not going to happen.

The Florida Supreme Court last year tossed an agreement signed by Gov. Charlie Crist and the Seminoles and lawmakers this year failed to pass a revised version of the pact.

Under Crist’s latest plan, the Seminoles would have paid $150 million a year to the state for education in exchange for Las Vegas-style slot machines and blackjack and other card games at its Hollywood and Tampa casinos as well as its Brighton and Big Cypress locales in Broward County.

The Seminoles have continued to run the games even without an agreement with the state, irking GOP House leaders and Attorney General Bill McCollum, who accuse the tribe of breaking the law.
(more…)

Bowing to pressure from federal officials, Sen. Jeff Atwater said today he’d like a December special session to address rail issues.

Gov. Charlie Crist said this afternoon that he would welcome the reconsideration of a controversial commuter rail project that lawmakers failed to pass in the spring and another stab at a gambling compact with the Seminoles.

“That’s a great idea,” Crist said.

Senate President Jeff Atwater, meeting with leaders from Congress and the White House today over Medicaid and rail transit issues said he wants a December special session to show the federal government that Florida needs $2.5 billion in federal stimulus money for high-speed rail.

“The President would like to give the Federal government an answer by the end of the year, December being the earliest we could feasibly have a special session. He plans to talk with the Speaker, Governor and Senate members in coming days,” Atwater’s spokeswoman Jaryn Emhof said in an e-mail.

Here’s our front-page story this morning on some of the issues facing high-speed rail in Florida.

(more…)

Atwater: no quick vote on compact

Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, sent Crist a list of questions about the compact - the second deal Crist inked with the tribe - today seeking “clarification.”

Atwater gave Crist until Oct. 9 to respond.

In an interview, Atwater also said he’d like the final compact to include provisions allowing the Palm Beach Kennel Club and other parimutuels around the state to add video slot machines or otherwise expand gambling if voters give the OK in local referenda. Such a measure was approved by legislators in the spring, but was not part of the recent compact Crist agreed to with the Seminoles.

Crist: wants early-October vote

No dice on that, either, Atwater said in a memo sent to the Senate and the media.

“As you all are aware, this issue involves a series of complex conversations with a variety of interests and impacts throughout our State. There are policy decisions to be considered that are not well served by undue haste. If, or when, the Senate takes up this issue it will be in a manner that allows for sufficient time to debate the facts and the merits of such policy,” Atwater wrote.

Shutting down the possibility of any kind of slot machine gambling at the state’s pari-mutuels and giving the Seminoles the right to offer blackjack at any of their casinos could jeopardize Crist and the tribe’s agreement, said state Rep. Bill Galvano, the House’s chief negotiator on the proposed compact.

“Those are red flags,” Galvano, R-Bradenton, said. “We’ll review from here and see where we go.”

Lawmakers laid out a gambling deal for Crist and the Seminoles in a bill the governor signed into law earlier this year.

That proposal allowed the Seminoles to keep blackjack at its Hollywood and Tampa Hard Rock resorts and to offer it at its Brighton and Big Cypress locales in Broward County.

The bill also didn’t mention “Class II” slot machines that look and play like Las Vegas-style slots but are less lucrative for operators.

The compact signed by Crist and the tribe today gives the Seminoles the exclusive rights to operate slots of any kind - including Class II video lottery terminals - anywhere outside of Broward and Miami-Dade counties where Las Vegas-style slots are already allowed.

That could have a devastating impact on the state’s dog and horse tracks, pari-mutuel operators object.

The $12.5 billion deal Gov. Charlie Crist and the Seminoles signed today takes slot machines off the table for the Palm Beach Kennel Club.

Track owner Pat Rooney Sr., his lobbyists and track owner Pat Rooney Sr. and some influential lawmakers had pushed for a Palm Beach County referendum in which voters could allow the track to expand its gambling operations to include slot machines. Senate President Jeff Atwater’s district includes the dog track.

But even the possibility of slots of any kind in Palm Beach County was a deal-breaker for the Seminoles, sources close to the negotiations said.

The final deal, which lawmakers must sign off on before it goes into effect, won’t allow slot machines or “slots-lite” - video terminals that look and play like the more lucrative Las Vegas-style slots - in Palm Beach or anywhere outside of Broward and Miami-Dade counties, where they are already permitted.

The Seminoles have agreed to pay the state $150 million a year or more, depending on how much their casino operations bring in, for 20 years in exchange for giving them exclusive rights to slot machine gambling throughout the state.

The tribe also gets to keep its blackjack games at all of its seven location although lawmakers had wanted that limited to the Broward County facilities and another near Tampa.

Gov. Charlie Crist and the Seminole Tribe of Florida agreed to a gambling deal today, the deadline lawmakers gave to Crist to reach an agreement with the tribe.

The deal won’t be final, however, until the legislature approves the contract, probably during a special session in October.

The $6.8 billion, 20-year deal allows the Seminoles to offer blackjack at each of their seven facilities.

But that’s not what lawmakers ordered Crist to do.

They told him they would only agree to let the Seminoles have blackjack at their three Broward County facilities and another near Tampa.

Lawmakers must sign on off the deal before it can go into effect.

“Over the last two months, my administration has in good faith negotiated with the Seminole Tribe of Florida a compact that will reap financial benefit to the people of Florida,” Crist said in a statement urging lawmakers to approve the compact.

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. (more…)

Gov. Charlie Crist weighed in on a variety of topics this morning after signing several law enforcement-related bills at the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles this morning.

Sheltered from the blazing heat by tents, slews of department employees dressed in bright red shirts turned out to hear Crist speak and pose for pictures with the governor, who is also running to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez.

Among the bills Crist signed today was one that will expand the state’s DNA database. Law enforcement officials, now limited to taking DNA samples from those convicted of crimes, will now be able to take DNA from anyone who is arrested.

But Crist defended the bill (SB 2276) which civil liberties advocates argue is too far-reaching and have threatened to challenge in court.

“I think it’ll be alright or I wouldn’t have signed the bill. I think that we need to protect first and make sure that our people are safe. I think that this legislation will help us to do that even better,” he said.

Read what else Crist told reporters at a gaggle after the bill-signing after the jump. (more…)

Gov. Charlie Crist on Monday signed legislation setting the outlines for a proposed gambling deal with the Seminoles that could reap the state billions of dollars for education.

Lawmakers gave Crist until Aug. 31 to finish negotiations and sign a pact with the tribe — a step that still remains to be completed. The legislature must approve the contract once one is inked.

Under the 15-year agreement that lawmakers have outlined, the Seminoles could continue to have Las Vegas-style slot machines and blackjack, chemin de fer and baccarat at their two Broward County casinos and one in Hillsborough County.

The tribe would be limited to slots only at its remaining Florida locales, including Immokalee, which it had planned on expanding.

(more…)

The Senate approved a gambling bill giving the Seminoles the ability to continue to hold blackjack and other banked card games at their Broward and Hillsborough county facilities in exchange for a guaranteed $150 million a year for education.

The bill (SB 788) also opens the door for more slot machines at parimutuels outside of Broward and Miami-Dade counties where they are already allowed. Voters would have to sign off before that could happen.

The Palm Beach Kennel Club could also use its jai alai permit to open a card room or another dog track under the legislation, which the House is expected to pass and Gov. Charlie Crist has said he will sign into law.

Why the special treatment for the Kennel Club, bill sponsor Sen. Dennis Jones was asked.

The Rooney clan who own the club wants to open another facility north of the West Palm Beach locale. But it’s also for the dogs, Jones said.

“The feeling is that the owners would basically like to convert that…and have a facility in the north county and the south county,” Jones, R-Seminole, said.
“It’s to basically utilize the dogs more so the breeders have more activities…and at the same time a biz decision for the owners of those two permits.”

The Senate approved the measure by a 31-9 vote.

Sen. Jim King had barely caught his breath after lambasting Democrats for threatening to vote against the budget before he launched into a diatribe about Hialeah Race Park getting special treatment in the gambling bill.

The bill, approved by the Senate by a 31-9 vote, will allow the quarter horse track, built in 1925 and a historical landmark, to reopen and eventually have thoroughbred racing and slot machines.

“Here you have an entity that was all but gone, dead and buried, just basically a permit,” complained King, R-Jacksonville. “Not only are they in the mix they are also in the opportunity to run races.”

King took a swipe at Miami-Dade County lawmakers who lobbied diligently to get the special provision for Hialeah.

“I’ve never seen some of them work so hard…but that doesn’t make it right for those of us who’ve been here and who have seen what have happened,” King said. He voted for the bill (SB 788).

Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, is presenting the cigarette tax hike Friday in the state House, but might vote against it.

She’s still not sure.

Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, convinced Senate Republicans to put new gambing money into savings. But he might not vote for the bill that would allow blackjack in Seminole casinos.

He’s undecided.

“I’m not entirely sure,” he said. “I’m going to have to wait and see. I’ve got mixed emotions. … I’m going to do what I hope all members do and make the best judgment at the time that gets the best work done for the people of Florida.”

These aren’t ideas that lawmakers are tossing around in workshops. These are the two issues that forced Republican leaders to extend session an extra week at a reported cost to taxpayers of $50,000 per day.

So what’s got Cannon and Bogdanoff unwilling to commit? Mostly, its that they’re not sure what Democrats are going to do Friday, when the bills are scheduled for a final votes.

“I can’t speculate about what they think is appropriate,” Cannon said. “I have a lot of respect for Leader Sands, for folks like Rep. Fitzgerald and others. I have confidence that they have to do what they think is best and we have to do what we think is best.”

But what if Democrats think its best to leverage their votes for something else? (Although its not exactly clear what that something could be at the 11th hour with most of their bills already dead.)

“I’m just not worried about it,” Cannon said. “Look, I have a lot of confidence that in the end, its our job to pass the budget. I think we’ll do that and I think we’ll get it done.”

Sounds like an interesting day in store for the House…

House Democrats huddle around Rep. Ron Saunders, D-Key West. (Florida House photo)

Sen. J.D. Alexander and Rep. David Rivera — two of the state’s more important budget writers and both Republicans – were chatting last month in a Capitol hallway when Ron Saunders strolled up.

Saunders, one of the top Democrats in the House, suggested that the minority party’s votes might be needed on some budget issues.

Rivera

But one of the final votes of a legislative session scheduled to end in overtime on Friday will be whether to allow new games at Seminole casinos so the state can collect hundreds of millions of dollars to protect its depleted budget.

And Republicans might need some help to do it.

(more…)

Seminoles could have blackjack and other banked card games in Broward and Hillsborough counties but only slot machines at their remaining three facilities and leaves the door open for full-fledged slots in Palm Beach County.

House and Senate gambling negotiators struck a deal late this evening as Gov. Charlie Crist and some tribal members looked on, finishing in time for lawmakers to take a full vote on the gambling package before the Senate is scheduled to end on Friday.

“I couldn’t be happier,” Crist said. “This is a victory for the children of Florida and for education.”

Under the final deal, lawmakers could give permission to voters in any county to approve full-fledged slot machines at pari-mutuels that have held live racing for at least two years, like the Palm Beach Kennel Club. But that would require legislation authorizing the referendum.

In exchange for blackjack at four of their seven casinos, the Seminoles would pay at least $150 million per year plus 12 percent of their earnings up to $2.5 billion. The state share could be as high as 25 percent of the tribe’s net win over $4.5 billion.

“We think it’s important to have these resources to help us get through the next year and couple years,” said Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander, who also led the gambling talks.

House chief negotiator Bill Galvano had said earlier that allowing blackjack in Broward alone would “push the House to the brink” and conceded that the final deal allowing blackjack there and in Tampa Bay “was still a heavy lift.”

Lawmakers will revisit the types of gambling allowed in the state in five years.

Earlier in the day, an agreement seemed unlikely when Galvano accused the Senate of moving backwards with a bid this morning that included a broader proposal for Indian card games than previously proposed.

“Mr. Chairman, I appreciate your offer but I will say that it appears the Senate, with all due respect and notwithstanding your brief explanation, is moving backwards. Backwards from where we want to go in an expansion standpoint. Backwards from where the House is heading. And I’ll look at your offer and we will let you know if it’s necessary to meet further,” Galvano, R-Bradenton, said.

Max Osceola is biding his time down the street from the Capitol after gambling negotiations between the House and Senate blew up earlier this morning.

The Seminole Tribal Councilman is in the same limbo as a crush of lobbyists on the other side of a gambling stalemate.

Osceola sat beside Gov. Charlie Crist this morning as talks took a nosedive after the Senate offer broadened gambling opportunities for the Indians. House gambling negotiator Bill Galvano shut down the talks and now it remains up in the air when he and Senate counterpart J.D. Alexander will meet again, if at all.
(more…)

A few hours after the House’s chief negotiator accused the Senate of “moving backwards” on a gambling deal and threatened to call off talks, Senate President Jeff Atwater said he thinks the two chambers are “close” to reaching an agreement before the session ends on Friday.

“I’m frankly just so impressed that we’re down to just a couple of items left that I think if I were looking at odds at the moment my odds would be, now that we’re this close, I think we can come up with something that can work,” Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, said this afternoon.

Rep. Bill Galvano abruptly walked out this morning after Sen. J.D. Alexander presented his latest offer on a compact with the Seminoles that would allow them to hold blackjack, baccarat and chemin de fer at all of their seven casinos. The Senate’s previous offer had limited all of the card games and only permitted blackjack at all of the casinos.

Atwater, accompanied by Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander who is also handling the gambling deal, said he wasn’t surprised by Rep. Bill Galvano’s reaction, saying that it was the “first pushback” after two days of negotiations.

“I don’t think it’s a surprise that in something this significant that we hit a bump. But hopefully they’ll call us shortly and be ready to sit back down soon,” Atwater said.

Atwater met with the Seminoles early this morning and said he believes the two chambers are “finding some common ground” on their disparate plans. The House wants to limit blackjack to the tribe’s three Broward County resorts, which the Seminoles have rejected.

When asked if it was time for Atwater and House Speaker Larry Cretul to take over gambling talks, Atwater said “I don’t think so” before Alexander interrupted.

“Please. Please. Please. Fire me,” Alexander, R-Lake Wales, pleaded in jest.

Gambling negotiations broke down this morning after the Senate reversed an earlier offer to the House limiting an expansion of gaming for the Seminoles and instead allowing them to have blackjack and all banked card games at each of their seven facilities.

And the latest Senate plan would also allow Palm Beach Kennel Club to have electronic slot machines if voters approve, something they had taken off the table.

“Mr. Chairman I appreciate your offer but I will say that it appears the Senate, with all due respect and notwithstanding your brief explanation, is moving backwards. Backwards from where we want to go in an expansion standpoint. Backwards from where the House is heading. And I’ll look at your offer and we will let you know if it’s necessary to meet further,” Galvano, R-Bradenton, said after his Senate counterpart J.D. Alexander quickly read through “Senate Offer #4.”

“Thank you very much,” Alexander, R-Lake Wales, said.
(more…)

After three meetings today, House and Senate leaders remain sharply divided over a gambling proposal.

Appearances by Gov. Charlie Crist and Lt. Gov Jeff Kottkamp, who showed up twice, did little or nothing to bring the two sides closer together on whether the Seminoles should be allowed to offer blackjack and slots at their Hard Rock resorts.

The House made few concessions in their third offer at the day’s final meeting, signing off on minor issues but refusing to grant the Seminoles the right to hold tabled card games.

Lawmakers are trying to come up with a replacement compact after the Florida Supreme Court tossed out an agreement between the tribe and Crist allowing blackjack, baccarat and chemin de fer at its casinos.

After the ruling, the tribe continued to operate the games at the Hard Rock near Hollywood and started running them in their Tampa facility.

Rep. Bill Galvano, the House’s chief gambling negotiator, said that granting the tribe permission to have the games was tantamount to “rewarding bad behavior.”

Crist said the House should approve the compact “cuz the kids need the money” for education but bristled when asked about Galvano’s remarks.

“That’s up to them to decide. It’s in their hands,” he said.

Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander, who had been negotiating throughout the day on gambling, tobacco taxes and the budget, left hurriedly after the meeting looking displeased with “House Offer #3.”

Alexander, R-Lake Wales, had counted on up to $500 million from the Seminoles for education spending. Lawmakers may need to return to Tallahassee for a special session on gambling if they do not reach consensus before Friday, the last day of the extended session.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida could keep blackjack at all of its casino resorts and also offer baccarat and chemin de fer at all but their Immokalee, Cypress Creek and Brighton locales.

Under the latest Senate offer, blackjack’s not in the cards for Miami-Dade or Broward race tracks but all tracks with card rooms would be able to hold no-limit poker.

House negotiator Bill Galvano said the 3 p.m. offer will keep the talks alive.

“This is a meaningful offer. It gives me confidence that negotiations should continue,” Galvano, R-Bradenton, said.

Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander, also in charge of the gambling proposal, also agreed to the House’s 35 percent tax rate for Miami-Dade and Broward county horse and dog tracks, a 15 percent drop from what they now pay.

The two sides also agreed to allow simulcast racing at pari-mutuels throughout the state if they also have cardrooms. They also agreed to try to collect sales taxes on hotel rooms and other items from the Seminoles. The tribe already collects a hotel room surcharge but does not remit it to the state as other Florida hotels are required.

The Senate backed down from a previous plan that would have allowed Broward and Miami-Dade county tracks to offer blackjack and would have given Palm Beach County voters the ability to authorize slot machines at the Palm Beach Kennel Club.

Alexander and Galvano are scheduled to meet again at 6 p.m.

Alexander, R-Lake Wales, said the two have about 24 hours to finalize a deal in order for lawmakers to vote for it before the session ends on Friday.