The Seminole tribe and the Florida state government have been locked in intense negotiations, as they try to come to a new compact agreement. Senator Bill Galvano, who is in charge of the negotiations, has come out and said that he believes the Seminole tribe could submit a new compact proposal sometime this week.
The Seminole Tribe has been in intense negotiations with the Florida government. They are expected to offer a new compact proposal soon.
Lots of Gambling Money from Seminole on the Line
Following meetings that have been taking place, the Senator said that he is sure everyone left the meetings feeling that further steps needed to be taken. The state of Florida and the Seminole tribe had discussed many of the issues, and he is confident that they will submit a proposed compact. The proposal will then be examined by the state and tweaked, so that negotiations can continue.
The state of Florida has a lot of money on the line with regards to this new compact. Back in 2015, Florida Governor Rick Scott made a revenue-sharing agreement with the tribe. This deal would have seen Florida being paid around $3.1 billion over a seven-year period. This would have made it the largest deal in the USA. Unfortunately, the deal was rejected by the legislature.
Seminole Holds all the Cards
The main issue for Florida is that the tribe is in a very strong negotiating position. The Seminole’s original compact expired in 2015, but that agreement also allowed them to exclusively offer ‘banked games’ until 2030. In 2016, the state of Florida tried to allow parimutuel venues to offer ‘designated player games’. The state government did not believe that this fell under ‘banked games’, but a federal court disagreed.
The tribe continued to make payments to the state, provided that Florida properly policed parimutuel betting venues and stopped them from offering ‘designated player games’. Florida will apparently still try to get the Seminole tribe to let parimutuels host the games. Apparently, Florida will offer the Seminole exclusive rights to Craps, but rumor has it that the tribe isn’t all that interested.
