The Florida casino expansion clock has been ticking for decades. Doomsday is now approaching, and legislators, operators, and non-gambling interests all know it. A constitutional amendment to require voter approval of any gambling expansion is on the ballot for November, and polls show it likely will pass.
With that in mind, Florida legislators are talking about conducting a special session. This makes sense only if the idea is to open every non-Seminole gambling avenue possible in our Sunshine State. That would mean slots at eight counties that support the idea via referendum, blackjack at South Florida racetrack casinos, and maybe even a casino hotel or two.
SUPPORTING THE NOTION is the idea that the Seminoles, who pay about $300 million annually for the exclusive rights to blackjack and other table games in South Florida and for a slot-and-tables monopoly in Tampa and southwest Florida, kind of have legislators over a barrel. The tribe’s compact with the state was declared invalid because of designated player games at pari-mutuels (don’t ask); that means that theoretically the tribe could conduct business as usual while holding back on their payments to the state – leaving a $300 million hole in the state’s annual budget.
BUT the Seminoles have said they intend to keep making payments and have never gone back on their word. And pari-mutuels – even operating full-bore – likely will be challenged to bring in the missing $300 million, because if the compact were totally voided, the Seminoles would have $300 million more for marketing and player recruitment, a very nice advantage.
STILL, SUPPORTING THE NOTION is the recent news that billionaire Jeffrey Soffer, owner of the giant Fontainebleau hotel, is purchasing Mardi Gras Casino in nearby Hallandale Beach. Word is that Soffer plans on developing that property, but he is only two words – “decoupling” and “portability” – away from a hotel-resort casino. One of Soffer’s lobbyists happens to be the brother of Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran, a Republican candidate for governor. The past weekend was Passover/Easter. I wonder what their conversation was about during their holiday dinner?
BUT expansive gambling legislation would go against the voter base of many legislators. Plus John Sowinski, president of No Casinos, has noted that any of legislation of the type that he calls “beat-the-buzzer” would be void if expansion were passed. He intentionally worded the November amendment that way.
YET SUPPORTING THE NOTION is that a special session favoring the racetrack casinos would certainly help Corcoran, who is expected to announce his campaign for governor in the next few days. The Miami Herald reported that Corcoran is significantly behind his potential primary challengers in fundraising – and the pari-mutuel industry is traditionally one of the most reliable contributors to legislative and statewide campaigns in Florida.
BUT some racetrack casino operators are suspicious about a money grab by legislators hoping for one more quick donation before the campaign heats up in the fall. Some cynics believe that the idea of more money – not the desire to address Florida’s gambling landscape – is behind the idea of a special session; if so, perhaps the target would be other potential donors.
To conclude: I’ve long said that Florida is a multi-way tug-of-war, involving racetracks, the Seminoles, anti-gambling businesses (that is, Disney), and a significant number of people philosophically opposed to gambling. But legislators everywhere, not just in Florida, traditionally wait until the last possible second to do anything. And in Florida, gun control issues following the Parkland shooting engulfed everything else in Tallahassee. So there are logical reasons that gambling decision-making could come down to a special session.
Or possibly not. Hell, I don’t know.
