Florida House committee advances casino games expansion

At the same time, though, the more gaming-friendly Senate put the brakes on its plan. In the House, the Regulatory Affairs Committee gave the nod to one bill, ratifying the agreement between Florida’s governor, Rick Scott and the Seminole Tribe to expand casino games on their venues.

It has also approved a companion measure which tightens loopholes in the state’s gambling laws while adding slots permits in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties and offering new gaming options outside of South Florida.

Punctuating the message that any future gambling should face very steep hurdles, the committee passed a bill to require that any additional expansion in Florida not already approved in the compact must receive statewide voter approval, through a citizen-led initiative.

“Doing a gaming bill is like putting a queen-size sheet on a king-size bed,” said Jose Felix Diaz, a promoter of the bill. “It’s impossible to accommodate the interests of every single person. What I tried to do was come up with a fair and balanced bill.”

The House’s proposals are designed to find the sweet spot to appease the factional gambling industry in the face of the newly-inked agreement with the Seminole Tribe. That agreement, if ratified by lawmakers, promises to bring in US$3bn over seven years starting next year and would help lawmakers to replace the state revenue they will lose if they give the governor his US$1bn tax cut plan.

But as the traditionally gaming-resistant House moved ahead, the Senate delayed a vote on its bill for a week. Senator Rob Bradley, who had hoped to present his gaming bill in the Senate Regulated Industries Committee on the same day Diaz presented his plan in the House, said his committee needed time to absorb a 40-page amendment by Senator Joe Negron.

Negron’s last-minute amendment would allow the six dog and horse tracks outside of Palm Beach County, which have won voter approval to operate slot machines, to go ahead with starting the games. It also attempts to appease the concerns of the Florida horse breeders and owners by using US$50m from the compact to increase racing purses. The Diaz and Bradley bills offer only US$10m.

“Basically we wanted to have some time to digest the amendments that were filed over the last several hours,” Bradley told reporters, adding that while his “full intention” is to have the bill up for consideration next week, budget discussions could push any final compact deal to the final week of the legislative session.

Proposals have been months in the making, with Diaz and Bradley working hard to pacify the other gaming competitors in Florida. The result is a group of proposals that offer something for everyone but satisfy no one, except the Seminole Tribe.

The nation’s most profitable tribe gets its compact ratified and a seven-year monopoly on casino games of craps, roulette and black jack at its seven casinos while it builds a $1.8 billion entertainment expansion, including a remodeled Seminole Hard Rock Tampa that includes a new, 500-room hotel tower.

Both proposals allow for gambling expansion, but the Senate also offers to buy back some gaming licenses to allow for some reduction in gaming. Both also offer some outright novelties, such as the video racing terminals at parimutuels outside South Florida.