Card room operators in the State of Florida have received formal letters from gambling regulators, in which an agency order is being enforced relating to specific games. Popular poker-type games have been offered at card rooms for some time now; however, the state gambling regulator, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation has ordered these games banned.
A department order was issued last week and filed on Friday with the Division of Administrative Hearings against the games played at a Jacksonville-based poker room. A fine of $4,500 was levied against the card room. The judge found that the games, similar to poker, were “unauthorized” under Florida’s laws. The judge’s summary concluded that the games had rules that were too much “like banked card games” and said that they were too similar to blackjack – a card game that is only offered by the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
Form letters were also sent by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, advising card rooms in Florida about the agency order which has now come into effect. According to the letter, the poker-like games “cannot be allowed to continue to operate in the current manner.”
“The basis tenant of the cardroom statute is that authorized games are not casino gaming because the participants ‘play against each other,’” reads the letter. “As currently operated, the designated player is a player in name only. The existing operation of the games does not more than establish a bank against which participants play.”
The director for the division of pari-mutuel wagering, Anthony Glaver, added that authorized card games had to be “played in a non-banking manner.”
Earlier this year, seven racetracks that offer poker-style card cards had administrative complaints filed against them by state regulators. At present, card games can be offered by Florida’s pari-mutuels such as horse tracks and dog racing tracks. These tracks reportedly make up to $15 million each from the games per year.
In May this year, gambling regulators filed a complaint against Jacksonville Kennel Club, operating as Bestbet, as well as five other operators. Complaints were made by these operators that their games came under scrutiny at the exact time that Governor Rick Scott was busy clinching a $3 billion compact deal with the Seminole Tribe for having exclusive rights to operate banked card games in Florida.
