There has been a dispute for quite some as to whether the Seminole Tribe would be allowed to continue running blackjack tables in the State of Florida. There is a new agreement in place that allows the Seminoles to continue operating the State of Florida’s blackjack tables.
The tribe already operates two Hard Rock casinos, one in Tampa, Florida, and the other in Hollywood, Florida. In addition to this, the Seminoles also own another five casinos in the state. Although the games are limited to blackjack, the tribe’s casino business in Florida results in approximately $2 billion in a year.
Throughout the United States, tribal casinos brought in $30.5 billion in 2015, which was the best year for the industry to date.
The new agreement allows the Seminole Tribe to continue to operate and receive the revenue for blackjack gaming in the state for a 14-year period. However, the state gets a percentage of the income, along with a payment of $220 million that will be paid as a one-off payment. The agreement allows Florida to have a piece of the action while the Seminoles still bring in vast amounts of blackjack income.
The State of Florida had hoped that the Seminoles would no longer be allowed to operate the blackjack tables after a compact between the tribe and the state had expired in 2010. However, Judge Robert Hinkle, a United States District Judge, ruled that even though the compact had expired, the Seminoles could continue operating the blackjack tables.
The reason for the ruling is that while the compact gave the tribe the monopoly, other similar games were offered in Florida during the time of the compact. Florida law states that racinos are not allowed to offer house-banked games, but racinos found a way to get around this by having a player act as the bank for a game on behalf of the racino. This is where the lines were blurred in terms of the compact. Games that are legal at racinos include non-banked games such as traditional poker. There are 30 poker rooms in Florida that are operated by both the tribe and others.
An earlier proposal included both craps and roulette as part of the list of games that are controlled by the Seminoles in Florida. This agreement, however, was not approved. Florida’s tribal gaming market is the third largest in the United States, with only Oklahoma and California with larger tribal gaming markets.
