Lawmakers Approve Massive Gambling Expansion For Fla., But The Deal Faces State And Federal Hurdles

By Michael Moline, Florida Phoenix

May 19, 2021

Craps, roulette, and other forms of gambling associated with casinos are coming to Florida. Sports betting, too.

The Florida House voted, 97-17, to that effect on Wednesday, capping a three-day special session on ratification of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ massive gambling compact with the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The Senate had done likewise just one day earlier.

Although the Seminole Gaming Compact drew bipartisan support, in floor debate Democrats raised a number of objections, including that the deal violates Amendment 3, the 2018 constitutional amendment requiring voter approval to expand gambling and that the Legislature was rushing through approval of an agreement that will bind the state for 30 years.

Randy Fine, the Brevard Republican who chaired the House’s Select Committee on Gaming, acknowledged there’s a chance the courts or the U.S. Department of the Interior could reject a key element of the gambling deal — a legal fiction that gambling is transpiring on Seminole land even if the bets are laid via cellphones across Florida.

But he noted that the tribe has agreed to share revenues on those expanded casino games even if that happens.

“This is a good deal. You can feel good about voting for it,” Fine said.

The legislation allows betting by people aged 21 and up on actual athletic events via cellphones from anywhere in the state, but the bets need to run through servers on tribal land.

This “hub and spoke” arrangement is designed to get around Amendment 3, approved by the voters in 2018, which requires any gambling expansion to go back to the voters. As a sovereign nation, the tribe isn’t bound by the amendment.

The tribe has promised to continue sharing hundreds of millions of dollars in gambling revenue with the state even if the courts and federal government says no. It had ceased payments under a 2010 compact because the state was allowing pari-mutual facilities to offer poker games the tribe argued that compact had reserved to its casions.

The legislation also expands casino-type games the tribe can run in its facilities to include craps, roulette, blackjack, and raffles and drawings.

More to come….

This story was originally published by the Florida Phoenix. For more stories from the Florida Phoenix, visit FloridaPhoenix.com.