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Bill Gives Seminole Tribe Slot Monopoly

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By MIKE SALINERO

msalinero@tampatrib.com

Published: March 28, 2009

TALLAHASSEE - The Seminole Indian Tribe would get a monopoly on big-payout slot machines across Florida but would have to give up casino games under legislation unveiled by the state House on Friday.

A proposed House bill would give the Seminoles exclusive rights to slot machines outside of Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Voters in those counties have approved the slots for existing pari-mutuel gambling sites. In return for the monopoly, the Seminoles would pay the state $100 million a year, or 18 percent of the tribe's yearly take, whichever is higher.

The bill closely mirrors a compact Gov. Charlie Crist negotiated with the tribe in 2007. The main difference is the House bill would prohibit casino games such as blackjack, roulette or baccarat at the seven Seminole locations around Florida. The tribe would have to give up the blackjack tables it runs at the Hard Rock Seminole Casino in Tampa within 90 days of the legislation taking effect.

Seminole tribe councilman Max Osceola, speaking Friday to the House committee reviewing the proposed compact, did not say whether the tribe would approve the measure. But Osceola thanked House members for including tribe members in talks on the proposal.

The House bill is in response to legislation approved Wednesday by a Senate committee that goes much further. The Senate version would allow the Seminoles to add casino gaming to the slot machines they already have at their seven locations in Florida.

Dog and horse tracks and jai alai frontons outside South Florida would be allowed to have electric gambling games, under the Senate bill, while horse tracks in South Florida could offer blackjack.

The bill rolled out Friday reflects the House leadership's philosophical aversion to expanded gambling. It limits slot machines, the most profitable form of gambling, to the Seminole gaming houses, and holds the line elsewhere.

"The Senate's recommendation is pretty broad," House Speaker Larry Cretul said Friday.

But House members have an even greater distaste for raising taxes. They, like their Senate colleagues, are scrambling for ways to cover a $6 billion budget deficit.

And the reality is the Seminoles have a right to have slot machines under federal law because the machines are legal in South Florida.

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303.

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