TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Blackjack In Crist's Proposal To Casinos

ADVERTISEMENT

By JEROME R. STOCKFISCH, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 8, 2007

Updated: 09/08/2007 12:57 am

TALLAHASSEE - The Seminole Tribe could add card games such as blackjack and baccarat, but not more exotic table games, to the state's gambling menu under a proposal being discussed by the governor's office and the tribe.

The parties have been negotiating a deal on higher-end Class III gaming since voters approved slot machines in Broward County parimutuel facilities. The games came online there in late 2006.
Indian casinos offer Class II machines, which are technically bingo terminals dressed up to resemble the type of slots offered in Las Vegas and other gambling hot spots. According to federal Indian gaming law, tribes are allowed to offer the same type of gaming that is approved elsewhere in the state.

A look at the draft proposal suggests that Crist's administration is willing to allow the tribe to go a little further into the gaming realm and provide what is known as 'banking' or 'percentage' card games, in which players go up against the house rather than against other players. Those games would be in addition to Class III slot machines, which are considered flashier and provide higher payouts.

Giving the tribe an exclusive arrangement for a type of game allows the state to negotiate a revenue-sharing agreement with the Indians. Documents released by the governor's office Friday call for the tribe to make payments to the state, but the rate of revenue sharing was not disclosed. The draft states that 95 percent of the Indian gaming revenue collected by the state would go to education.
Insiders have said the state could take in revenue approaching $1 billion over a five-year period.

A spokesman in the governor's office stressed that the draft was not an agreement, also known as a compact, or a done deal. Gary Bittner, a spokesman for the Seminole Tribe, echoed that stance. 'We don't have a final compact,' he said. 'Negotiations have been positive, and continue to be positive, and the tribe is hopeful that there will be a compact sometime soon.'

Representatives of the tribe, the governor's office and the federal Department of the Interior, which oversees Indian affairs, are scheduled to meet Tuesday for an update on negotiations. If no deal were to be reached, the Interior Department would impose its own rules allowing the tribe to provide Class III slot machines. That would be a setback for the state, which would not only lose potential revenue, but would have no role in regulation of the Indian casinos.

George Skibine, acting deputy assistant secretary for Indian affairs at the Interior Department, said Friday that he was unaware of the scope of negotiations between Florida and the tribe. The department would much prefer a mutual agreement over imposing federal rules, he said.

State law prohibits most forms of gambling, with exceptions for bingo-style games, the state lottery and the South Florida slots.

On Thursday, Attorney General Bill McCollum issued an opinion in response to questions from House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, that implied the state was under no mandate to negotiate Class III gaming that is specifically prohibited in state law. Some have interpreted McCollum's eight-page opinion to mean that what is illegal under state law is also illegal for the tribes.

George LeMieux, Crist's chief of staff and top negotiator, said that's not how he understood McCollum's opinion.

'It's not my role to interpret what the attorney general said,' LeMieux said. 'We basically agree with what he said.'

LeMieux said Crist has not yet determined whether he would submit a final agreement to the Legislature for its approval. 'It is the position of the governor's office that the Legislature does not have to approve it, that the governor has the ability to negotiate this compact, but the governor is very deferential to his friends in the Legislature,' LeMieux said.

A gaming scenario as outlined in the proposal would mean greater action at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino east of Tampa, where a $120 million expansion was under way prior to talk of expanded gaming. It is one of seven Seminole sites that could offer the higher-end games, according to the proposal.

According to the draft, the Seminoles:

•Could operate, expand or replace gaming facilities at Brighton, Coconut Creek, Hollywood, Immokalee, Big Cypress and the two tribe-owned Hard Rock casinos in Tampa and Hollywood with advance notice to the state.

•Must obtain an annual independent financial audit and share it with the state, and allow an as-yet-undetermined state compliance agency to monitor games covered under the compact.

•Must prohibit those under 21 from gambling.

•May be able to offer higher-stakes poker games; this point is still being negotiated.

•Must install ventilation systems to exhaust tobacco smoke and designate a smoke-free area at all future sites.

•Must provide average minimum payouts on slot machines of not less than 85 percent.

Reporter Jerome R. Stockfisch can be reached at jstockfisch@tampatrib.com or (813) 222-8382.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT