Senate Gambling Bill Doubles Down On Slots

February 18, 2016

Pari-mutuels in at least six counties could add slot machines, under a measure approved Wednesday by a Senate committee that set the House and Senate at odds over a $3 billion gambling deal inked by Gov. Rick Scott and the Seminole Tribe.

The gambling package approved by the Senate Regulated Industries Committee authorizes the Seminole agreement, called a compact, but includes significant changes that would force further negotiations for the deal to go into effect.

“We are not back to square one, at all,” committee Chairman Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, told reporters after the meeting.

Under the compact signed by Scott and tribal leader James Billie in December, the tribe would add craps and roulette to its casino operations in exchange for a guarantee of $3 billion in payments to the state over seven years.

Many people believed that a compact would never be signed, Bradley said.

“That got done. Then came the idea that there’s no way this thing could ever get out of a committee in the Florida Senate. It got out of a committee today. So we are continuing to make progress. That does not mean that it’s a sure thing to get done. Challenges still remain. But we are where I think we need to be,” he said.

The House is considering a less expansive proposal that would ratify the agreement and allow slots at the Palm Beach Kennel Club and at a new facility in Miami-Dade County, items permitted but not expressly authorized by the compact.

Bradley had floated a nearly identical measure earlier this month, but held off on a vote after Sen. Joe Negron, slated to take over as Senate president later this year, filed a series of amendments last week.

Under one of Negron’s amendments folded into the bill (SB 7072) Wednesday, pari-mutuels could add slots in six counties where voters have approved the machines — and other counties where voters sign off on them in the future. Bradley voted against the amendment. The six counties are Brevard, Gadsden, Hamilton, Lee, Palm Beach and Washington.

The Senate plan now also would allow horse and dog tracks, as well as jai alai frontons, to do away with live racing or jai alai matches altogether, a process known as decoupling, while keeping more lucrative gambling operations, such as slot machines and cardrooms.

The House proposal would allow decoupling of greyhound racing and most horse racing, but would keep thoroughbred races intact at Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs. Jai alai frontons would also be required to keep operating live matches.

Negron insisted that the changes to the compact struck by Scott and the tribe were necessary to keep the measure alive.

“If you have a pure compact, and that’s all you have, it’s not going to pass out of this committee,” Negron, R-Stuart, said before the vote. “It’s very important that we have geographic concerns echoed in the amendment, and I think we can go back to the Seminole tribe and negotiate out a compact.”

The Senate plan now includes $45 million for thoroughbred purse pools — $20 million from payments from the Seminoles and $25 million from slots and cardroom revenues at pari-mutuels that decouple. The House proposal would earmark $10 million for the purse pools, a sweetener for the horse industry, which, in general, opposes decoupling of any type.

The Senate committee rejected an attempt by Negron to include in the gambling bill an amendment that would authorize fantasy sports in the state. Proponents of the popular online games, including Negron, insist that the games are legal in Florida, but some attorneys general elsewhere in the country contend that the activity equates to online gambling, which is illegal in most states.

The committee, however, inserted language — also sponsored by Negron — into a separate compact-related bill (SB 7074) that would amend the agreement to allow for fantasy sports without affecting the tribe’s payments to the state.

The future of the Senate proposal remained in doubt Wednesday evening. Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, now must refer the measure to another committee before it is ready for a full vote by the chamber.

House Regulatory Affairs Chairman Jose Felix Diaz, who worked with Bradley and Scott’s top staff for months to nail down the accord with the tribe, said that he wants state economists to evaluate the economic impact of the Senate changes. As a result, a vote from the House Finance and Tax Committee, expected next week, will be delayed, Diaz said.

Reaching consensus before the session ends on March 11 could be problematic, but Diaz remained hopeful.

“This bill will be touch and go all the way through to the end. I’m optimistic that there’s a path forward. I just don’t know what it is,” Diaz, R-Miami, said Wednesday evening. “It’s going to take some creativity and a lot of time.”

by The News Service of Florida

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News