Seminole Compact still in play, Richard Corcoran says

Blackjack_board

Florida House Speaker-designate Richard Corcoran Monday said lawmakers again will consider a gambling agreement with the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

A federal judge earlier this month ruled the tribe can continue to offer blackjack and other “banked card games” to its Hard Rock Casino customers across the state, including the Tampa location.

The tribe sued the state, saying it had broken an exclusivity deal with the tribe, one part of what’s called the 2010 Seminole Compact. The Seminoles now can offer blackjack until 2030 without sharing revenue with the state. The original deal wound up being worth more than $200 million per year.

A renewed blackjack deal struck by Gov. Rick Scott earlier this year promised $3 billion over seven years in revenue share to the state, but it failed to gain approval from lawmakers. It also contained key provisions critics said expand gambling in Florida, such as allowing the tribe to offer craps and roulette.

corcoran, richard
Corcoran

Passing the deal helps both sides, providing the state with much-needed cash and the tribe with “stability,” Corcoran told reporters.

The new compact “will go through the whole committee process,” Corcoran said. “We’ll see it work itself through.”

State Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, a Miami-Dade Republican, again will handle the agreement in the House as chair of the new Commerce Committee.

But Corcoran also said there would almost certainly be “underlying legislation” attached to any compact considerations: “I think you’re going to have to have both to try to get something done.”

But it was the accompanying legislation that helped kill the compact last session.

Lawmakers trying to appease pari-mutuel interests, such as horse and dog tracks, added on even more measures to expand gambling, including slot machines and card games. That ensured its demise among legislators shy of seeming too cozy with gambling interests.

“We’re a very conservative chamber, and if something is going to pass it will have to be conservative,” Corcoran said. “It’s going to have to be a reduction in gambling.”

Jim Rosica

Jim Rosica is the Tallahassee-based Senior Editor for Florida Politics. He previously was the Tampa Tribune’s statehouse reporter. Before that, he covered three legislative sessions in Florida for The Associated Press. Jim graduated from law school in 2009 after spending nearly a decade covering courts for the Tallahassee Democrat, including reporting on the 2000 presidential recount. He can be reached at [email protected].


3 comments

  • MICHAEL LAFROSCIA

    November 22, 2016 at 3:07 pm

    The State is so far from knowledgeable about gaming that they blew a $200 million deal. The Seminoles now don’t have to pay a dime to the State but the State says the $3B is still on the table…Thats a good one.. Why would anyone who just won a lawsuit to save a billions want to offer it back to the people they got it from.. The Seminoles can do a claw back and recover all the money they paid for the first 5 years.

    • MICHAEL LAFROSCIA

      November 22, 2016 at 3:13 pm

      The next move would be for the Seminoles to strike a deal with the State by letting the Seminoles have Dice & Roulette and the Seminoles wont sue them for their original billion the State is theoretically on the hook to return to the Tribe with no payments until 2030.

Comments are closed.


#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, Anne Geggis, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Gray Rohrer, Jesse Scheckner, Christine Sexton, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704




Sign up for Sunburn


Categories