Jim Rosica
Manufacturers of cards and chips who sell to the Seminole Tribe of Florida may be spared, at least in civil court, in any legal throwdown over blackjack at the Seminole Tribe of Florida‘s casinos.
The Tribe is still offering blackjack despite the expiration of a special deal with the state that allows it to offer “banked card games.”
Both sides are now suing each other in federal court even as they try to broker a new agreement. Current games are technically unauthorized and may be illegal gambling, depending on which side you talk to.
This week, a gambling-law expert told FloridaPolitics.com that card and chip makers and their distributors could be liable for “contributing” to illegal gambling.
But in 2011, U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich in Tampa dismissed a lawsuit against the Tribe filed by a group of disgruntled gamblers.
They claimed to have lost wagers at Seminole casinos in Tampa and Hollywood in 2008-10, after the state Supreme Court had invalidated a previous 2007 agreement between the state and Tribe allowing them to offer slots and card games.
Their argument was that since the Tribe didn’t have authority to offer gambling during that time, they should get their money back.
The gamblers sued not only the Tribe, but card and chip makers, and even the billboard company the Seminoles used to advertise their casinos.
Kovachevich eventually decided the case had no legs, because the Legislature had repealed the section of state law that otherwise would have given them a right to sue.
Even if they had a case, the gamblers wouldn’t be able to prove how the card and chip makers and others should be held liable, the judge added.
Her decision does not, however, automatically foreclose other legal action, including criminal prosecution.
The Tribe’s lawyers have made clear their client won’t discontinue the games. The Seminoles say the state broke its promise of exclusivity by allowing electronic blackjack and player-banked poker elsewhere in the state, including in South Florida.
Professor I. Nelson Rose of California’s Whittier Law School said the state “has many ways to prevent the Tribe from continuing to offer blackjack and other card games,” even though federal law doesn’t allow the state to go onto tribal land to enforce anti-gambling laws.
He mentioned the Florida RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act, which gives the state the authority to go after “any person who has with criminal intent received any proceeds derived, directly or indirectly from illegal gambling activity.”
In any event, both sides are declining comment on what their next steps will be, citing the pending litigation.
2 comments
Milton Champion
November 22, 2015 at 2:25 pm
This thought will be considered as these companies could jeopardize their license in this state and all others with a conviction of contributing to illegal activity…
Raymond
November 23, 2015 at 12:22 pm
It’s time we embrace our loyal and law abiding Pari-Mutuel industry and spread all that potential economic growth to communities around the state. We don’t need the Seminole’s money and they can pretty much do what they please anyway. Huge amounts of gambling money continues to leave out-of-state. Slots and Blackjack at Pari-Mutuels could produce way more jobs and revenue compare to Seminole deal.
This compact exclusivity is not much different than manufactures outsourcing to China and Mexico. Look what it’s done to factories across America. The same what is happening to Pari-Mutules and this way of thinking has contributed to the downfall of America’s industries, it’s workers, their families and indirect companys.
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