The Republican-majority Florida Legislature is making another attempt to pass a comprehensive gambling bill after previous deals have fallen apart in the light of some hidden conflicts among the local gambling interests.
Reportedly, a new effort for passing a gambling bill in 2018 emerged due to the fact that constitutional change especially focused on casinos is to be on the November ballot. In addition, a number of questions related to the 2016 agreement between Florida Governor Rick Scott and the local Seminole Tribe and the money inflow expected to be brought to the state as a result.
According to Senator Bill Galvano, it is too early for any predictions to be made, but possibilities should be considered.
Currently, gambling is considered illegal in the state of Florida, but reality is different. As a matter of fact, there is a variety of gambling services provided across the state which are often masked among other offerings of local theme parks and entertainment venues. Regular high-end casinos are not available for the time being, but a number of casinos are being operated by the local Seminole Tribe, including the Hard Rock-branded hotels and casinos situated in Hollywood and Tampa. The Seminole Tribe of Florida also has the exclusive right to offer the game of blackjack.
Moreover, the state features also a number of horse and dog tracks, but only the ones located in South Florida have been allowed to offer slot machines to local residents.
Enough Signatures Gathered for November Ballot
For a few years now, Florida legislators have considered pieces of legislation which would have expanded the casino market of the state. Unfortunately, the competing interests of the gambling industry and the local tourism sector, which has been usually against gambling expansion, brought these efforts to failure.
Still, there is a chance for the gambling expansion attempts to be brought to an end in 2018, in case that local voters greenlight a change that would provide the state’s residents to approve new casinos in Florida in the upcoming years. In order for this to happen, a total of 60% of voters would be required to give the nod to the measure in order for the latter to become law.
The proposed constitutional amendment which is set to appear on the November ballot under the name Amendment 3 aims to prevent local legislature from legalising casino-style gambling without the approval of the state’s residents. The group behind the proposed constitutional change, Voters in Charge, was required to collect a total of 766,200 signatures. The amendment was also supported by both the Seminole Tribe of Florida and by the Disney Worldwide Services, and earlier this month Voters in Charge revealed that they have managed to gather enough signatures to head to the planned ballot in November.
- Author
Daniel Williams
