Session Could End Without Gaming Pact

A day after Gov. Charlie Crist urged state lawmakers to quickly approve a gaming compact he negotiated with the Seminole tribe, key lawmakers said they might not seal the deal before their 60-day session ends.

The compact that Crist parlayed in 2007 authorized casino-style slot machines at the Seminoles' casinos and gave them exclusive rights to offer banked card games. In exchange, the state was to receive a hefty cut.

The state Supreme Court voided the compact in the summer, finding that Crist had overstepped his authority. Lawmakers are now contemplating whether to ratify that compact, which Crist is holding up as a reliable source of revenue - at least $2.5 billion over 25 years.

"Approval of the compact will preserve and create thousands of jobs for Floridians and will safeguard against the expansion of gambling to every corner of our state," the governor declared Tuesday during his State of the State address. "Whether you are for or against gaming, the compact makes sense and deserves your support."

His budget proposal for next year includes close to $300 million that the state will reap under the 2007 compact. But lawmakers are unlikely to go along with the terms of that deal, said Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton - leaving open a complicated array of issues to navigate in the next two months.

"We don't have a whole lot of time, so there is a probability that it won't get done during this session," Galvano, who chairs the House Select Committee on Seminole Indian Compact Review, told reporters on Wednesday.

He later clarified that he meant there is a "possibility" the session could end without a deal, though he hopes to finalize one this spring. "There's not a foregone conclusion that we would get there - but the intent is still to work it out."

Dennis Jones, chairman of the Senate's committee on industry regulation, was likewise unwilling to commit to a deadline. "If we can't do it right, I don't think either one of us feels it's something that we have to do," said Jones, R-Seminole.

Federal law permits the tribe to offer class-III slots because they exist elsewhere in the state. The state can claim a share of the profits only by granting the tribe an exclusive advantage.

But Florida's parimutuel owners have complained that giving the tribe exclusive rights to card games places nontribe gaming facilities at too much of a competitive disadvantage - particularly since they pay a much higher tax rate. That, they argue, will likewise harm the state by depressing its tax collections.

Wednesday, consultants from New York-based Christiansen Capital Advisors told Galvano's committee that Florida would collect $205 million from pari-mutuels in year 10 after compact approval, under the terms negotiated by Crist. That's down from about $226 million that Florida would have collected that year, if the Seminoles had class-III slots but no card games.

Meanwhile, the state would collect $437 million in year 10 from the Seminoles if the tribe had both slots and card games - up from $361 million, if the tribe had slots only. Net effect: giving the tribe card games plus slots is worth $55 million annually to the state by year 10, compared with a slots-only compact.

"The study clearly validated many of the things we've been saying for months," said Jim Allen, head of gaming for the Seminoles.

The consultants suggested that lowering the tax rate on pari-mutuels while ratifying the deal negotiated by Crist would likely yield the state the most money. Galvano was unconvinced, however. Politically, he said, lowering the tax rate on gaming during a recession when the state is hemorrhaging money is not realistic - and many members oppose handing over exclusive rights to card game to the Seminoles at the expense of nontribal gaming.