The Seminoles and the legislators in Florida reached a historic deal on April 3rd, 2010 regarding the future of casino gaming in the state. The tribe has negotiated for the chance to offer blackjack and Las Vegas-style slot machines in exchange for paying a massive amount of cash to the state.
The money given to Florida will come from the up front fee and also from yearly revenue sharing payments from blackjack and slot machines games. However, several important factors could halt these payments to the state in the future. One of the most popular topics among legislators around the U.S. is online gambling.
Several states have discussed the merits of online gambling and Florida legislators will have an important decision to make if they want to regulate online gambling. Language in the new tribal agreement suggests that if Florida was to regulate online gaming and the Seminole tribe is not permitted to offer online gambling sites, then the minimum guaranteed payment to the state would be cancelled.
A condition to this is the Seminole tribe would have to see their earnings drop by 5% to use this clause in the deal. Online gambling may not be seriously considered in Florida for several years and legislators have the option to reevaluate the gaming deal with the Seminole tribe after five years.
At that time, if state officials decide to halt all blackjack games, the Seminole tribe would no longer need to give Florida any of their earnings from blackjack or slot machines.
Sunday, May 02 , 2010
Kim Watson