Richard Corcoran (pictured), who assumed the speakership of the Florida House on Tuesday, said lawmakers in Florida will revisit a compact between the Seminole Tribe and the Sunshine state, according to Florida Politics.
Earlier this month, the federally recognized Seminole Tribe of Florida won the right to continue offering blackjack and other “banked card games” at its casinos across the state.
After a five-year exclusivity clause in the 2010 compact between the state and the tribe expired last summer, state officials wanted the tribe to stop offering the card game at its casinos. However, on November 9, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled that the tribe can keep its blackjack tables for 14 more years and does not have to share revenue with the state. Hinkle ruled in favor of the tribe because state regulators permitted pari-mutuels throughout the state to run designated-player games that mimicked the tribe’s offering.
The suit that was filed by the Seminole tribe was based on the original agreement between the tribe and former Governor Charlie Crist. Earlier this year, a new compact worth $3 billion that was negotiated last December between Governor Rick Scott and the Seminole Tribe failed to gain approval from the state’s legislature. In addition to allowing the tribe to continue offering card games like blackjack in their Florida casinos, including the Hollywood and Tampa locations, the agreement allowed for expanded gambling options in the southern portion of the state and the tribe the opportunity to add table games including craps and roulette.
According to the news agency, Corcoran told reporters the new compact “will go through the whole committee process,” and, “We’ll see it work itself through.”
Meanwhile, card rooms at Florida parimutuels are being warned by state regulators to change the way their card games are currently being played as they are too similar to the house banked games found in casinos such as those operated by the Seminole tribe.