Florida tribe to get class iii gaming

After years of failed negotiations and a threat by the federal government to take unilateral action, Florida Governor Charlie Crist signed a gaming compact last month with the Seminole Tribe that will give the tribe the right to replace thousands of Class II slot machines at its seven casinos with traditional Class III games, and more.

In addition to Class III slots, the compact gives the tribe the right to add banked card games including blackjack and baccarat to its casinos—a provision of the agreement that is likely to send state lawmakers, and possibly the parimutuel slot operators, to court in an attempt to alter or block the agreement.

The 25-year gaming compact also allows for six no-limit poker tournaments per year, with 70 percent of revenues going to charity.

The deal pays the state $50 million upon approval by the federal government, with graduated annual payments of at least $150 million by the third year. After the third year, the state would get a cut of gaming revenues.

The Seminoles get the right to operate Class III gaming on tribal land, and a guarantee that the deal with the state is void if existing non-tribal gaming is expanded beyond the current parimutuel facilities in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, which both were approved for slots in 2004.

The chief of staff for Crist, who formerly said he would send any tribal gaming compact to the legislature for approval, last month said the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act does not require legislative approval when Class III gaming is legal elsewhere in a state, and that only the federal government need approve the deal.

Crist signed the compact without seeking legislative approval because the federal Department of the Interior had threatened to unilaterally grant the tribe permission for Class III gaming under IGRA if the deal was not signed by November 15—in which case the state would not get a cent from the games. “If we don’t do it, the federal government would do it anyway and we get zero,” Crist told a reporter last month.

The signing of the compact after negotiations that have strung out for 16 years, however, does not end the story. While the tribe may indeed install the Class III games, the legal battle is just beginning. State lawmakers from both parties have threatened to sue Crist, alleging that any state gaming compact requires legislative approval.

Lawmakers are not the only ones threatening lawsuits. Dan Adkins, president of the Mardi Gras Gaming racino in Hollywood, said he is considering suing Crist over the compact as well, because it gives the tribe an unfair advantage with more games, and limits the potential growth of parimutuel slot gaming. The parimutuel slot facilities give the state more than half their revenues in taxes, a far cry from the fees the Seminoles will pay, particularly considering the revenues already generated by the tribe’s two largest Class II casinos, the Hard Rock resorts in Tampa and Hollywood.

“The good news is, I don’t believe it will ever take effect,” Adkins said of the compact.

By Casino Connection Staff

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