TampaBay.com – As a Florida House committee voted Wednesday to create a new state agency to regulate gambling, Gov. Rick Scott asked the Senate to put the brakes on its proposal to bring two resort casinos to South Florida so that the legislation would not interfere with his gambling negotiations with the Seminole Tribe.
As a result, Senate Gaming Committee Chairman Garrett Richter abruptly canceled a scheduled meeting Monday to take up the Senate’s gambling bills.
“The governor’s office called me and asked if we would slow down the process until we know what the terms of a potential deal with the tribe is,” Richter told the Times/Herald late Wednesday. He said he expects the vote to be delayed for at least another week and he is optimistic the governor will resolve the gaming compact before session ends in May.
The compact, a legal agreement between the state and Tribe, guarantees that the Tribe give the state about $234 million a year in revenue in exchange for the exclusive right to operate slot machines at four casinos outside of Miami-Dade and Broward. It also allows the tribe to operate banked card games — blackjack, chemin de fer and baccarat — at the Hard Rock casinos in Tampa and near Hollywood, plus three other casinos.
The portion of the agreement that relates to table games expires Aug. 1, 2015, and Scott has decided to start negotiating terms of the deal now. If he resolves the agreement, legislators must ratify it and it is uncertain whether that could be completed before session adjourns May 2.
Meanwhile, the House and Senate are moving forward with bills that overhaul how the state regulates gaming and both are prepared to open the door to expanded gaming if the governor agrees to allow new games during his negotiations with the Tribe.
The House Gaming Committee on Wednesday approved a proposal to create a new state agency to regulate gambling and create a Gaming Control Board. It also voted to put an amendment on the November ballot that would require voter approval of future gambling expansion. Similar bills are moving in the Senate and both chambers propose creating an appointed oversight board with the power to regulate and control gaming in Florida.
Unlike the House, the Senate plan also allows for two new resort casinos to be allowed in Miami-Dade and Broward, but offers no new gaming for existing parimutuels, a prospect that threatened to erode support among the pro-gambling committee.
