Jim Rosica
Ed. Note: A version of this story ran previously in Saturday’s “Takeaways from Tallahassee” email.
It’s long been a Capitol cliché, but there are few pronouncements on a piece of legislation as inauspicious as calling something “a heavy lift.”
Saying a bill is “a heavy, heavy lift” sounds even more portending of defeat.
Yet that’s how House Speaker Richard Corcoran referred to the omnibus gambling bills now on their way to conference. They include a new agreement for continued exclusive rights for the Seminole Tribe of Florida to offer blackjack in return for $3 billion over seven years.
“It’s got a long way to go,” the Land O’ Lakes Republican said in a press conference after Thursday’s floor session.
Generally, the House holds the line on gambling expansion; the Senate is open to some expansion, including allowing slot machines at pari-mutuels in counties that approved a slots referendum.
Having blackjack money for the upcoming $80 billion-plus state budget could mean an extra $340 million-$350 million.
“It’s a heavy lift. There’s a reason it hasn’t been passed in decades,” Corcoran said. “But this is the first time, probably that anyone can recall, where you have two bills moving … That puts them in a posture to see where a negotiation goes.
“But I would still say it’s a heavy, heavy lift … We’ll see how it unfolds.”
Another sign: Neither chamber factored gambling revenue share from the Seminole Tribe to the state into their respective budgets, he said.
“I think it’s generally considered an irresponsible budgeting practice to budget money” that you don’t know you have, Corcoran said.
Sen. Bill Galvano, the Bradenton Republican who’s the Senate’s point man on gambling, said any gambling revenue—assuming a deal is struck—”would come in at the back end.”
The Senate passed its gambling package (SB 8) Thursday; the House Commerce Committee cleared its bill (HB 7037) later that day. It’s set to be discussed next Tuesday on the House floor.
Galvano, speaking to reporters after the Senate’s floor session, said getting both sides to ‘yes’ won’t be easy.
“I told the members here today that I couldn’t guarantee we’ll ultimately have a final resolution,” he said. The House is “interested in seeing something move … My conversations with the Seminole Tribe have been positive.”
The Tribe had sent a letter to Corcoran, Gov. Rick Scott and Senate President Joe Negron saying “neither (bill) would satisfy the requirements of federal law nor satisfy fundamental tribal concerns” and called them “not acceptable.”
The Tribe’s concern was that it would be financially squeezed by the Legislature’s current proposals without getting enough in return. It offers blackjack at five of its seven casinos, including the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tampa.
When told his warning to his colleagues “sounded ominous,” Galvano said, “I have to manage expectations,” adding the chambers were still “light years ahead of where we’ve ended in the past.”
That is, nowhere. And still in wait is a state Supreme Court decision on whether Florida dog and horse tracks outside South Florida can have slot machines. That could add additional revenue to state coffers, but would cross the Seminoles, who have slots exclusively outside South Florida.
Moreover, a Leon County circuit judge recently ruled that slot-machine looking games known as “pre-reveal” (one example is here) can’t be legally defined as slots.
The Tribe has disagreed, saying such games also violate the existing agreement, the Seminole Compact, between the Seminole and the state. That would entitle them not to pay any more slots money. Galvano said he doesn’t believe the games violate the Compact.
Still, “if we can’t get to where we have the votes in each chamber to pass, then we have to walk away,” he said.
