Seminoles Sign Gambling Deal With Florida for Blackjack, Slots

The day that many Floridians have waited years for finally came on Wednesday, as Governor Charlie Crist announced a 25 year compact with the Seminole Indians to make Blackjack and Baccarat legal in their seven casinos.

The compact comes on the eve of a federal deadline to get the issue resolved, and it assures the Seminoles of the right to allow blackjack, baccarat, and Vegas style slot machines in their seven casinos around the state.

The compact also gives a bit of exclusivity to the Seminoles as they were promised that the state will bar casinos from competing with the Seminoles in all counties other than Broward and Miami-Dade.

The details of the compact are as follows, the tribe must give the state an immediate payment of $50 million, and also give the state up to 25 percent of annual gaming revenue from card games and slot machines.

At least $100 million is guaranteed to the state for the first three years of the deal, and the state would also receive at least 10 percent of revenue based on a graduating scale. The state would receive 25 percent when the revenue reached $4.5 billion.

If gambling is approved from lawmakers anywhere outside of Broward and Miami-Dade, the tribe would be allowed out of the compact and would no longer have to give the state any revenue money.

While the agreement has been made, legislators believe they must sign off on the deal for it to be binding. House speaker Marco Rubio had this to say, "Any gambling compact between the state and the Seminole Tribe is invalid without legislative ramification. We have asked our attorney to review the details of the compact to examine the legislature's legal options."

November 14, 2007
Posted By Vincent Tapoglia III
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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