TRIBAL GAMING IN FLORIDA
avenues to secure Class III gaming on its reservation land, and eventually exerted enough political pressure to bring Florida back to the negotiation table. 55 In 2007, the Tribe reached an agreement with Governor Crist giving the Tribe the ability to operate Class III gaming which was subsequently approved by the Secretary of the Interior. 56 The Florida Supreme Court encapsulated the Tribe’s relentless efforts to operate Class III gaming by describing the 2007 Compact as the result of “almost sixteen years of sporadic negotiation with four governors.” 57 However, the state’s House of Representatives disputed Governor Crist’s ability to enter into a binding agreement with the Tribe and refused to validate the negotiated compact. 58 The Speaker of Florida’s House of Representatives filed suit and the Florida Supreme Court confirmed that Governor Crist lacked the constitutional authority to enter into the compact. 59 Despite this ruling on the compact’s validity, the Seminole Tribe continued to offer the games negotiated under the compact as approved by the Secretary of the Interior. 60 With the prospect of missing out on revenue generated under the unstable compact, the Florida Legislature granted Governor Crist the authority to negotiate a compact on the state’s behalf but required that any deal be ratified by the legislature. 61 A deal was struck with the governor, ratified by the legislature, and approved by the Department of the Interior in 2010. 62 Under the 2010 Compact, the Seminole Tribe was given exclusive rights to operate house- banked card games, such as blackjack and baccarat, and nearly exclusive rights to operate slot machines within the state. 63 In return, the state was guaranteed a minimum of $1 billion in revenue over the
first five years of the compact, and up to a fifteen percent share of profits exceeding $2 billion. 64 B. Revenue sharing and the catalyst for a new compact The 2010 Compact had a fixed term of a total of twenty years. However, house-banked card games, like blackjack, were authorized only for the first five years of the Compact term, but only if Florida did not permit anyone other than the Tribe to offer such games. 65 The intention was to give the Tribe the ability to offer banked card games without having to compete with commercial card rooms. 66 When the five-year period ended, the Tribe continued to offer its house-banked games and claimed that it had the authority to do so for the 2010 Compact’s entire twenty-year term. 67 According to the Seminole Tribe and the Federal District Court, the exception to the five year limitation on blackjack was triggered because Florida had allowed cardrooms to offer player-banked and video card games. 68 By allowing cardrooms to offer games that operated similarly to blackjack, the state had violated the exclusivity promise under the Compact, and thus the Seminole Tribe could continue to offer blackjack tables for the entire duration of the twenty-year compact without sharing any revenue with the state.69 69 Florida appealed the District Court’s decision, but ultimately reached a settlement with the Seminole Tribe which restored revenue sharing between the Tribe and State in 2017. 70 The state would receive $220 million immediately, and continued revenue sharing, while the Tribe was guaranteed the ability to offer blackjack at its casinos. As part of the settlement, Florida also agreed to take “aggressive enforcement action” against
55 Fletcher, supra note 39 at 272. 56 Id . 57 Fla. House of Representatives v. Crist, 999 So. 2d 601, 603 (Fla. 2008)
58 Id . 59 Id . 60 Allison Sirica, A Great Gamble: Why Compromise Is the Best Bet to Resolve Florida’s Indian Gaming Crisis , 61 Fla. L. Rev. 1201, 1204 (2009). 61 Id . at 1222. 62 Press Release, US Dept. of the Interior, Class III Gaming Compact Approved for Seminole Tribe of Florida , https://www.bia.gov/as-ia/opa/ online-press-release/class-iii-gaming-compact-approved-seminole-tribe-florida 63 Devin O’Connor, Odds Long Seminoles and Florida Resolve Gaming Compact Before 2020 Session Ends, CASINO.ORG, casino.org/news/ odds-long-seminole-tribe-and-florida-resolve-gaming-compact-dispute/. 64 Fletcher, supra note 38 at 273. 65 Seminole Tribe, 219 F. Supp. 3d 1177, 1180 (N.D. Fla. 2016). 66 Id . at 1182. 67 Id . at 1182-3. 68 Id . at 1180. 69 Id . 70 Gary Fineout, Florida and Seminoles settle blackjack dispute , ORLANDO SENTINEL, https://www.orlandosentinel.com/politics/os-seminole- tribe-rick-scott-20170705-story.html.
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IMGL MAGAZINE | APRIL 2023
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