Crist's gambling deal would raise only $9 million more in cash than legis plan

The gambling compact signed by Gov. Charlie Crist with the Seminole Tribe would raise about $9.7 million more in its first four years than the proposed compact drafted by the Florida Legislature according to numbers released today by Amy Baker of the legislature's Office of Democraphic Research.

The primary reason: the governor allows all seven casinos to have banked card games while the Legislature's plan, SB 788, would allow only the Broward and Hillsborough casinos to have banked card  games.  The governor's proposal also freezes the tribe's contribution to the state at $12.5 million per month but that number would climb in the out years because of the expansion of the banked card games. The difference over the four-year period: 1.2 percent.

However, Baker notes, the fact that the legislature would have allowed for more expansion of gambling than the governor's plan -- and an undetermined amount of potential tax revenue -- would have had a net reduction in the tax base.

Rep. Saunders preps parimutuel bill, holds for special session

Democratic Rep. Ron Saunders says he's drafted proposed gaming legislation that is basically what lawmakers passed in the 2009 session, minus the Seminole gambling provisions that are now in limbo amid strained negotiations between the tribe and the state.

Translation: a parimutuel bill.

Saunders, D-Key West, said his proposal would allow the parimutuels to operate as lawmakers have already agreed they should. That will allow them to benefit from approved tax breaks and start on capital projects that can create jobs, he said.

But he isn't filing it until he gets a clear signal on if and when the Legislature will go into a special session -- which, depending on the day and who you talk to, could include anything from gambling and SunRail to oil drilling and designating a new state pie (well, OK, not that last one...).

"A majority of the Legislature already voted for some of this parimutuel stuff, so why not take what we passed and give these parimutuels the tax breaks," Saunders said. "Right now they're in limbo because of the Seminoles. I support the Seminoles, but resolving that issue is more complicated. The parimutuels are ready to go."

Indian gaming expert calls Florida's position typical stonewalling

In her new blog on Indian gaming, University of North Dakota tribal law professor Kathryn Rand says there is nothing surprising about the position of Florida legislative leaders on the Seminole gaming compact.

"Is it really a surprise that Florida is trying to shut down the Seminoles?,'' writes Rand, an expert in tribal gaming."After all, this is the state that infamously stonewalled the Seminoles' efforts to negotiate a Class III compact for nearly two decades.  Florida's stance resulted in the Supreme Court's 1996 decision that "undid" IGRA's compromise of state and tribal authority.  Florida's uncompromising (and arguably illegal, if unlitigable) position also resulted in the politicization of compact "negotiations" nationally.  And so it goes in Florida to this very day."

Rand is co-director of the Institute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law and Policy at the University of North Dakota.

She told the Herald/Times that the institute receives no general funding from tribes although Rand has been hired as a consultant by tribal and other gaming entities. Her article, "Caught in the Middle," 90 Marquette Law Review 971 (2007)) was cited in the Florida Supreme Court's decision on the Seminole gaming compact and was supported by funding through a research grant from the Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming at San Diego State University. 

Seminoles and Crist say they're operating with a legal compact

Heads continue to butt between House leaders and the Seminole Tribe over the state's gambling compact. Seminole Tribe spokesman Gary Bitner issued the following statement in response to House Speaker Larry Cretul's call for the feds to shut down the tribe's slot machines and card games.

The tribe continues to contend, as it has for the 15 months that, because the 2007 compact was posted in the federal register, it is still a legal document. The Florida's Supreme Court invalidated it and sent the governor back to the drawing board but, they say, it's still in force.

Meanwhile, Gov. Charlie Crist told the Herald today: "I don't know that we've reached an impasse. I don't agree with that assessment yet."

Here's Bitner's statement:

House asks feds to shut down casinos and intervene in gambling compact

After meeting privately with the head of the National Indian Gaming Commission Tuesday and House gambling negotiator Bill Galvano, House Speaker Larry Cretul declared an impasse on the gambling compact with the Seminole Tribe and asked the federal government to shut down the tribe's casinos and intervene.

Cretul's letter repeats the House's claim that the tribe is operating its existing casinos illegally, because the federal law requires that it must have a tribal-state compact in effect to operate. He raises the prospect of having federal forces step in to close down the tribal casinos until there is an agreement.  

"The Tribe’s ability to profit from these illegal games creates a disincentive to enter into a compact, and places the State at a significant disadvantage in negotiating games to which it never gave its consent,'' Cretul writes.

Here's the text of Cretul's letter:

Seminole Tribe official blasts legislature's resistence on compact

The Seminole Tribe of Florida's head of gambling delivered a blunt, public message to the Florida legislature Tuesday: 

You can allow unlimited gambling statewide, or you can have our $150 million a year. But you won't get both.

James F. Allen, the Seminoles' chief executive officer of gaming operations, spoke candidly Tuesday about the failure of the legislature, governor and the tribe to agree on a gambling compact. Appearing at the Florida Gaming Summit, held at the Seminole Hard Rock and Casino in Hollywood, Allen decried the lack of progress on a compact out of Tallahassee.

"It's gone on too long, and what's been going on is not in the tribe's best interests," Allen said.

Gov. Charlie Crist and the tribe agreed to most but not all of the legislature's requirements, including paying the state a minimum of $150 million a year for the next 20 years, but it rejected a provision that would allow the legislature to expand gambling elsewhere in the state, as long as it was outside of a 100-mile radius of existing parimutuels.

The Legislature must sign on to the pact and the House's lead negotiator on the gambling issie, Rep. Bill Galvano, has declared the deal worked out by Crist is unacceptable.

Crist said this week that the legislature could ratify the compact during a special legislative session in December on commuter and high speed rail. If that doesn't happen, the issue will wait until the March regular session.

-- ADAM BEASLEY

Dear, Guv. What's your gambling deal mean? Love, the Senate.

Gov. Charlie Crist is pretty certain is gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe of Florida is in good shape, but boy is the Senate concerned.

Senate President Jeff Atwater and the Senate's regulated industry committee attorney, James Rhea, have a load o' questions. Rhea's letter has 24 questions subdivided alphabetically.

Said Atwater:"As you might imagine, questions from staff are largely technical in nature, and beg the continuing concerns Senators may have regarding the philosophical deviations of this proposed compact from Chapter 2009-170, L.O.F. Therefore, please do not assume that failure to raise a question at this juncture signals acquiescence with all the other terms and conditions reflected in the proposed compact. Before we can begin to engage a much broader conversation on those questions that might remain, it is important that we fully understand the technical underpinnings and ramifications of the proposed compact language."

Download POS letter to GOV

Download Reg Industries ltr to Gov Gen Counsel

Atwater says October special on gaming, oil 'unlikely'

Senate President Jeff Atwater, concerned about "questions" raised by his review of the gambling compact the Governor recently signed, now calls an October special session to ratify the compact "highly unlikely."

In a memo sent today to senators, Atwater says gambling is "a complex issue and conducting a thorough analysis will take time.  We have a responsibility to exercise due diligence to ensure we understand the long-term ramifications of the proposed Compact."

During the final days of compact negotiations, a provision was added to make it easier for the Palm Beach Kennel Club get slot machine gaming in Atwater's home county. The measure had not been in the original proposal adopted by the Legislature but was added by House negotiator Rep. Bill Galvano who said it was approved by Atwater and his gambling negotiator, chief of staff Budd Kneip. The provision was rejected by the tribe and the governor and it is among several provisions sought by lawmakers that are not part of the compact they signed.

Atwater's memo also suggests oil drilling isn't going to be debated on the chamber floors any time too soon. Offshore drilling involves policy decisions "that are not well served by undue haste," he writes. "If, or when, the Senate takes up this issue it will be in a manner that allows for sufficient time to debate the facts and the merits of such policy."

Read for yourselves here:

Gambling deal designed to exclude slots at Miami airport

Cell phones were buzzing around the state Tuesday as gambling watchers took a deeper look into the compact signed by Gov. Charlie Crist and the Seminole Tribe on Monday. 

Marco Rubio called it a "a backroom secret, one-sided deal with the Seminole Tribe." The former House speaker said it "is a worse deal than the original compact. It creates a loophole where they don’t pay anything for their Broward casino, which is their most profitable one."

Isadore Havenick, Vice-President of Southwest Florida Enterprises, the parent company of Flagler Dog Track and Naples-Ft. Myers Greyhound Track blasted the exception. "Allowing payments from the three Broward Seminole Tribe facilities to cease the instant any of the Miami-Dade pari-mutuels operate slot machines is patently absurd,'' he said.

The focus of the debate was on pages 34-36 of the document and the paragraph which says that if Florida law is changed to allowed Class III games in Miami Dade or Broward at a location "that is not presently licensed for the play of such games at such locations and such games were not in play as of January 1, 2009." If those changes are allowed and games start at any facility that is not licensed to play by Jan. 1, the tribe reduces its payments to the state from its Broward casinos.

Is that a big loophole carved into the agreement to benefit the tribe's Broward facilities? Or is it just a poorly-written exception that is designed to mute the impact to the whole state if there are new games -- such as black jack -- added at the existing seven parimutuels in the two counties and Hialeah Park? Our bet is on the latter. The language specifically says "other than the existing Hialeah Park."  All seven existing parimutuels are licensed to operate slots and, if they get other games -- such as banked card games -- the reduction in the tribe's payment only comes from the casinos most likely affected, the Hard Rocks in Hollywood and Coconut Creek.

So what is the point of writing it this way with the Jan. 1, 2009 date? Maybe they wanted to make sure the Miami Airport, which has applied for a quarterhorse permit so it can operate slot machines in its  passenger terminals, won't be getting those slot games after all.

Or maybe they're talking about preventing the owners of Miami Jai Alai transfer its slots permit to Miami Beach at, say, the Fountainbleau? A thought. 

Crist: oil, energy could be added to gambling special session

Gov. Charlie Crist, asked today what else might be on the agenda of an anticipated October special session beyond the gambling compact he signed Monday, said "possibly energy."

And oil? "Possibly, sure." He smiled and added "and lower taxes!"

The renewable energy package Crist wanted this past regular session died when House leadership tried in the final week to tack on oil drilling. Senate sponsor, the late Jim King, R-Jacksonville, said there was no way he could get his members to sign off last-minute, so both proposals died.

Now word is leadership (inc. incoming Senate prez Mike Haridopolos and designated House speaker Dean Cannon) will make another go at it -- saying oil drilling, like the gambling compact, is a much-needed revenue generator that can help pay for enviro-friendly things like land conservation and solar energy research, etc.

Crist said October seems like a good time for a special session, though he hasn't yet decided. A committee week is already scheduled for the week of Oct. 5-9.