Florida Senate approves Seminole Tribe gaming compact
The Florida Senate approved the state’s 30-year gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe by a vote of 38-1, setting up a final ratification of the compact on Wednesday morning with the House of Representatives.
The legislature approved Senate Bill 2A to ratify and implement the gaming compact in the state. The 30-year gaming compact will bring an estimated $6 billion to the Sunshine State over the next 30 years and officially legalize Florida sports betting.
Florida gaming compact moves to the House
Sen. Jeffrey Brandes cast the lone no vote on the compact. He said during the hearing he was hesitant about creating a statewide gambling monopoly for just one entity.
Brandes previously told Saturday Down South he was leery of giving up exclusive sports betting rights to the Seminole Tribe. He introduced his own sports betting bill, SB 392, earlier this year which circumvented Seminole Tribe participation in the online sports betting program by running it through the state’s lottery. Revenues generated from the bill would have bolstered education in the state, but Brandes’ bill ultimately failed to pass by Florida lawmakers.
The final vote on the gaming compact will take place tomorrow in the Florida House of Representatives. If it is approved, it will be sent to the federal government for final approval. The U.S. Department of the Interior will have 45-days to review the compact and either approve, deny or take no action on the document.
House Speaker Chris Sprowls yesterday revealed the gaming compact will not include online casino gaming. Additionally, the gaming compact is unlikely to include two controversial Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) bills that would have set DFS license prices at $1 million, nearly 10-times more expensive than any state, and a minimum age of 21 for users. Both FanDuel and DraftKings opposed the bills.
The bills were scheduled to be discussed today by the House Select Committee on Gaming but discussion were delayed. If not approved before tomorrow’s hearing, which is unlikely at this point, they will not be included in the gaming compact.
The House Select Committee on Gaming is expected to approve its counterpart bill (HB1A) later today.
Florida online sports betting still an unknown
The gaming compact will still likely have an uphill legal battle if it is approved by Florida lawmakers. Indian gaming law expert George Skibine attended the House Select Committee on Gaming meeting and said the Department of the Interior will have to look at the compact and determine if the servers being on Indian land means online bets placed anywhere in Florida would be deemed to be placed on Indian land.
“It will be a difficult decision for the department,” he said.
Skibine did note that an oft cited U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling against online betting may not hold the same weight in Florida. The Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a San Diego online casino that argued a bettor’s location did not matter as long as the location of the server receiving the bet was on Indian land. Skibine said Florida is under the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
Seminole Gaming CEO and Hard Rock International chairman Jim Allen has mentioned several times over the past two days that the Seminole Tribe will still make revenue payments from other casino games if online sports betting is deemed illegal and must be removed from the compact.