Just things were threatening to get ugly between the Seminole Tribe and the State of Florida, Gov. Rick Scott (R) has emerged from the cone of 
silence to disclose a new, $3 billion revenue-sharing agreement with the Seminoles. The pact, which must still garner the approval of the Florida Lege, would run for seven years, preserve Seminole blackjack and permit the addition of craps and roulette. The Seminoles appear to have gotten everything they wanted but they made a few concessions, too, including capping slots and tables at 3,000 and 150 respectively per casino.
The Associated Press reports, “The deal also allows for the addition of slot machines at the Palm Beach Kennel Club and also leaves an opening for another casino in Miami-Dade as well as create a path for existing tracks in that county and Broward to eventually add blackjack tables as well.” Could that additional Miami-Dade casino be the opening for which Genting Group has been waiting for to create a casino megaresort? (The Fontainebleau has also been tapped as a contender.) Or do the tight restrictions on non-Seminole table games make large casinos unfeasible?
A 2014 compact unilaterally negotiated by Scott sank without a trace. He had legislative input on this one, but there’s some question of whether it can get past lawmakers who are beholden to Disney, which doesn’t want to see any 
expansion of gambling in the Sunshine State. “We have a product that is ready for consideration,” said state Sen. Rob Bradley (R), who helped craft the final product, “It’s a good, fair deal for the taxpayers.” But it’s far from clear how many members of his caucus he’s speaking for. In addition to the Lege, the compact must obtain the assent of U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and the National Indian Gaming Commission, so the tough part may just be starting.
Florida political blogger Phil Amman calls the deal “essentially a 20-year lockout of anyone else trying to offer gambling play in the state.” Casino opponent John Sowinski is already demanding, at minimum, a maintenance of the status quo. (Indeed, a companion bill will allow Seminole gaming taxes to be used to repurchase existing casino licenses and take them out of circulation.) “I’m not a fan of expansion, either. But this is a good, fair deal for the taxpayer that will provide money for health care, transportation, education and other core services,” Bradley said, “and I look forward to the next step” of getting it approved by the Legislature … The bottom line is it’s a significant increase in revenue sharing with the tribe.”
Bradley’s colleague, state Rep. Dana Young (R) hinted that she would look with displeasure on the agreement, saying it picked winners and losers. Other 
facets of the compact include Seminole-funded subsidies for problem-gambling treatment, Florida Lottery sales at gas stations and the waiving of any Seminole objection to Internet gambling, should the state authorize it. Seminole blackjack would no-longer be taxed and non-tribal parimutuels would see their tax rate reduced from 35% to 25%. The Seminoles could offer banked card games at all seven of their casinos, up from five, but had to concede their pursuit of a Fort Pierce-area casino. Seminole payments to the state start at $325 million in Year One, maxing out at $550 million in the last year of the compact.
Scott is already making the case for his handiwork, writing “With a $3 billion guarantee [over the first seven years] along with a cap on the tribe’s gaming, it is my hope that this compact can be the foundation of a stable and predictable gaming environment for the state of Florida,” to House Speaker Steve Crisafulli (R) and state Senate President Andy Gardiner (R). Regardless of the compact’s fate in Tallahassee, Scott has negotiated a “george” deal for all parties and S&G takes back the unkind things it’s said about him.
* Back in 2010, anti-casino crank Sharron Angle accused Sen. Harry Reid (D) of pushing a (fictional) CityCenter bailout through Congress. However, Old Sixty Votes is now working on a Caesars Entertainment bailout and 
this time it’s no joke. He’s trying to cram into an omnibus bill a rider that would permit insolvent Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. to restructure its debt out of court, retroactively putting paid to a half-dozen lawsuits. The move, obviously, would benefit Caesars’ private equity owners at the expense of creditors, who would be deprived of their legal forum of redress. As one Democrat said, “This is about screwing pension funds to help private equity firms.”
“But Reid may win the day because the rider has been amended to … affect only Caesars, according to a lobbyist familiar with it,” reports The Hill. Responded an opponent to Reid’s chicanery, “It is a great concern to us that a 76-year-old law would be amended retroactively, without legislative review or public debate, by the backroom lobbying efforts of one or two special interest groups whose sole aim is to overturn several federal district court decisions that were not in their favor.” Somewhere, Gary Loveman is smiling.
