Florida tribes gaming deal remains uncertain

The Florida Seminole Tribe and the government may not reach a deal on gaming anytime soon and Governor DeSantis is worried about it.

US.- The government and the Seminole Tribe of Florida may not reach on a gambling deal soon. According to Governor Ron DeSantis, “there’s a lot of stuff to go through,” even as he hopes to sign it soon.

“I’d like to get a deal, but at the same time I’ve got to make sure that what we’re doing is right for Florida.”

“If I can place a wager on whether the first pitch of a game is going to be a strike or not, well, hell, that’s a big moral hazard. That’s not necessarily something that would affect the total outcome,” he added about sports integrity.

“Obviously, me and my staff we’re going through it, looking substantively (at) what it means, but also legally. As you know, there’s a lot of legalities that are involved in this. There is just an amendment that passed. You know, the question, does it apply to the tribe? Does it apply to this or that? So there’s a whole host of things I think that need to be vetted through, but prior to yesterday I had not seen the outline. We have seen it now and are going through it,” DeSantis said.

The time issue

On May 3, the current session will expire, which is why the state needs to pass a new compact to secure the tribe’s payments.

As there were no official propositions yet, Senate President Bill Galvano -who played a key role in the previous deal- didn’t include the tribe’s money in the upper chamber’s proposed spending plan for next fiscal year.

“[Online gaming] has come up. Nobody in the Senate has agreed that online gaming is something that the tribe should have,” Galvano said. The tribe, however, may want Florida’s gaming compact to include iGaming and sports betting.

“We’re midway through (session), but those types of negotiations are valid to continue even if we go past session and into the summer. I think if we continue to operate in good faith, as I’ve mentioned to you all in the past, there are things that are important to the tribe, and we’ll see where we go. But in an abundance of caution and in prudence, we’re not going to incorporate dollars (in the budget) at this time that aren’t guaranteed,” he added.