Whether you watch a tennis match or follow a lawsuit regarding racetrack casinos and “designated player” games, you can hurt your neck as you follow the back-and-forth.
Florida card rooms have just won the most recent point: an administrative law judge has ruled that, hey, the state of Florida was wrong to simply eliminate a rule it had approved years earlier.
Let’s catch up on the story. Back in 2012, lawyers for racetrack casinos received approval from the state’s division of pari-mutuel wagering to operate “designated player” games such as Ultimate Texas Hold ‘em and Three-Card Poker. At most casinos, these games are found in blackjack pits, and are usually defined as “house-banked” card games. The racetrack casinos needed Florida government approval because only the Seminole Tribe of Florida has the rights to banked card games, paying $1 billion over five years for that privilege. The racetrack casinos cleverly convinced the state that such games, if conducted with designated players, should be considered “poker,” which is defined as pitting player versus player, rather than player versus bank (the house).
The games grew in popularity, but last December, as the Seminoles and Governor Rick Scott worked out an agreement extension (which didn’t pass the legislature), Scott informed the pari-mutuel division that there was a problem with “designated player” games.
So on August 1, Administrative Law Judge Suzanne Van Wyk, specifically addressing a poker room in Jacksonville, said poker rooms were violating the state’s ban on banked card games.
“As currently operated, the designated player is a player in name only. The existing operation of the games does no more than establish a bank against which participants play,” Van Wyk wrote in a 54-page ruling.
But on August 27, racetrack casino lawyers convinced judge E. Gary Early that simply outlawing an approved game is illegal, arguing they went to the expense of bringing in special tables, reconfiguring their floor space, and hiring staff.
“The evidence is conclusive that, by its repeal of (the rule), respondent simply changed its mind as to whether playing with a designated player constituted the establishment of a prohibited banking game,” Early wrote. “It previously determined that such games were lawful. … It has now determined they are not.
“Respondent cannot, with little more than a wave and well-wishes, expect regulated businesses to expose themselves to liability through their actions under a statute that is open to more than one interpretation, when the agency itself has found it problematic to decipher the statute under which it exercises its regulatory authority,” the judge wrote.
The eye of the hurricane is centered at the state’s division of pari-mutuel wagering, although they’ve been so battered and bruised that you almost feel sorry for them. (This was written before Hurricane Hermine hit; physical damage is another matter.) “We are still reviewing the decision and will take the appropriate steps moving forward in the process,” Communications Director Stephen Lawson said in a statement. And you can hardly blame him for not being able to say very much. After all, a quote of “Dang, the legal system is just pouring all kinds of whoop-ass on us” probably wouldn’t have been taken well by upper management.
So the whole designated-player mess likely will end up again in the courtrooms, which are getting crowded with Florida gambling cases. Two are particularly prominent:
* The Seminole tribe has filed suit against the state, arguing that legislators have not negotiated in good faith to extend a five-year $1 billion agreement for exclusive rights to table games; the agreement expired on July 31, 2015. Those games have continued, despite the lawsuit, and the Seminoles are paying the state in the interim.
* A different lawsuit could bring slots to at least six Florida counties – and end the monopoly the Seminoles have outside of South Florida. Since this ruling would affect compact negotiations, legislators have put their actions on hold.
So if you want to keep yourself mentally sharp for following Florida gaming, one option is turn on ESPN. The U.S. Open tennis tournament runs through September 11. But be careful not to hurt your neck by too vigorously watching the ball go back and forth.
