In gambling talks, is Gov. Rick Scott playing poker or Uno?
@MarcACaputo
The end of Florida’s 60-day legislative session always resembles a complicated card game, a poker-bridge blend with legislation traded back and forth amid hidden agendas and the high stakes of a $75 billion budget.
Gov. Rick Scott just threw down a wild card.
With less than a week before the session ends on Friday, Scott’s team is provoking talk about a special legislative session, perhaps starting May 18, to consider a new gambling deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
The potential deal, called a “compact,” could give the state as much as $500 million annually, about double what it gets now. But it could hurt the states 31 pari-mutuel facilities, many of which see the Seminoles and Miccosukee tribes as threats.
To pull this off, Scott needs five-card stud poker skills. But some wonder whether he is more suited to play the simple kid’s game Uno.