Florida’s tribe wins legal fight over blackjack

The federal court decided that the Seminole Tribe can continue to legally run blackjack games in their casinos.

US.- Federal Judge Robert Hinkle ruled on Wednesday that the Seminole Tribe can legally still running blackjack games in their facilities. The judge said that the state violated the terms of the 20-year gambling compact with the tribe.

The tribe filed a lawsuit after sections of a gambling deal with Florida state expired in 2015. The tribe signed a five-year agreement in 2010 with the state to operate banked card games at five of the tribe’s seven casinos. Even though the agreement had expired in summer 2015, the Seminole Tribe has continued to offer the games. The case was centered on two types of games: card games and slot machines that simulate blackjack, which are currently authorised by state gambling regulators at pari-mutuel facilities.

Back in August the judge said that the games are an “egregious example of the cardrooms’ attempt to evade the prohibition on banked card games.”