The Florida Senate passed Senator Bill Galvano’s Gaming Bill 8. The House gaming bill is also among the bills that are expected to be passed in a few days.
After the full Senate chamber have made a decision to pass the new bill, despite the fact that the Senate and and House versions of the legislation differ from each other, especially when it comes to the budget considerations in the balance.
The Senate’s preliminary approval was given to SB 8 on Wednesday. Then, on Thursday, the Senate approved the version of the gambling bill with votes ratio of 32 to 6. Under the provisions of the new piece of legislation, the counties in South Florida that have voted in favour of the new bill would get access to pari-mutuel blackjack and slot machines. Also, the bill would make sure that the casinos operated by the Seminole Tribe would get access to the games of roulette and craps, and that pari-mutuels to continue to operate casinos.
The approval of the PCB TGC 17-01 bill would have the current gaming compact re-enacted. As mentioned above under its provisions, the Seminole tribe would be given the exclusive rights to operate some slot machines outside the Miami-Dade and Broward. On the other hand, blackjack would also be allowed to be operated by the tribe at their casinos in South Florida. In terms of these exclusive rights, the Seminoles would be required to make a $3-billion payment to the state over a period of seven years.
The House version of the bill, which passed the final committee with votes of 19 to 11, does not include any of the above-mentioned issues. It basically suspends gambling activities at their current status quo, but also demands for payments from the local Seminole Tribe to be increased. At the same time, however, it does not offer any new exclusive rights to games such as craps and roulette.
That was exactly the reason why the Seminole Tribe has challenged the House Bill, claiming that the latter violates the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Under the provisions of the afore-mentioned Act, all payments alterations must be made through new concessions by the state. On the other hand, it is among the priorities of Florida authorities to get the agreement with the tribe in order for the state to get potentially big taxes from them.
The House is expected to vote on its gambling bill in a few days only, with the two chambers set to have some negotiations afterwards. On the other hand, Senator Bill Galvano said that was the first time when Florida had a gaming bill on the floor since 2010. According to him, there is something happening with the industry in terms of legislation.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida, however, has previously protested both bills, saying that either one of them would make the Tribe give away more in return to what it gets.
- Author
Daniel Williams
