{"id":193813,"date":"2021-12-01T11:33:26","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T19:33:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=193813"},"modified":"2021-12-02T09:58:32","modified_gmt":"2021-12-02T17:58:32","slug":"seminole-tribe-paying-off-signature-gatherers-to-sabotage-ballot-initiatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/seminole-tribe-paying-off-signature-gatherers-to-sabotage-ballot-initiatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Seminole Tribe Allegedly Paying Off Signature Gatherers to Sabotage Ballot Initiatives"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Seminole tribe of Florida is buying off petition gathering firms in a bid to sabotage voter-led challenges to its state gaming monopolies, a POLITICO story claims.<\/p>\n

\"Seminole
The Seminoles hold the monopoly on casino gambling in Florida at their seven casinos, including the Hard Rock Hollywood, pictured. (Image: Wilfredo Lee\/AP<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One such company, Dunton Consulting, employed by Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS), told the politics-focused website it had lost 32 signature gatherers to the Seminoles in the previous two days alone. That\u2019s more than half its team.<\/p>\n

Dunton CEO Rasheida Smith said her employees were being offered money upfront to stop work, followed by an additional payment three days later, up to $7,000 in total. They’re also being awarded $250 bonuses for each Dunton employee they can recruit to switch sides and work for the tribe.<\/p>\n

LVS Initiative<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Seminoles hold a monopoly on casino gaming in Florida at their seven Hard Rock-branded casinos. They want it to stay that way.<\/p>\n

\n

The tribe also, at least nominally, holds a monopoly on sports betting, per a compact negotiated and signed with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). Last week, a federal judge tossed out the agreement, although the Tribe is appealing the decision.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Meanwhile, Las Vegas-based LVS has long harbored an ambition to open a casino in Florida. It has teamed up with Alabama\u2019s Poarch Band of Creek Indians on a ballot initiative called \u201cFlorida Voters in Charge.\u201d<\/p>\n

This initiative is hoping to ask voters at a 2020 ballot whether they want to change the state constitution to allow pari-mutuel card rooms in North Florida to become full-fledged casinos. That\u2019s provided they are 130 miles away from the Seminole reservation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This could allow LVS or the Poarch Creeks to buy a cardroom in or around the Jacksonville area that could then be transformed into a casino resort.<\/p>\n

Canvassers \u2018Harassed\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, DraftKings and FanDuel have an initiative of their own, \u201cFlorida Education Champions.\u201d For obvious reasons, they want voters to back a more open and inclusive betting market for Florida.<\/p>\n

But the company in charge of that signature-gathering campaign, Advanced Micro Targeting, said its canvassers were being \u201charassed.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Zachery Herrington, the company\u2019s state director, told POLITICO he is concerned the tribe is hiring unprofessional or even \u201cdangerous\u201d staffers.<\/p>\n

They will harass us for a spot. They will do something like piss someone off at a DMV, or a courthouse, or a parking lot, then everyone gets kicked out,\u201d<\/strong> Herrington said. \u201cIt\u2019s designed to burn that turf for everyone.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A spokesperson for the tribe said they do not condone or tolerate such tactics by their canvassers, and would fire staff who engaged in aggressive behavior.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Seminole tribe of Florida is buying off petition gathering firms in a bid to sabotage voter-led challenges to its state gaming monopolies, a POLITICO story claims. One such company, Dunton Consulting, employed by Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS), told the politics-focused website it had lost 32 signature gatherers to the Seminoles in the previous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":193814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSeminoles Paying Off Signature Gatherers to Sabotage Ballot Measures<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Seminole tribe of Florida allegedly paying off LVS and DraftKings ballot initiatives in bid to maintain state casino gambling monopoly\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seminoles Paying Off Signature Gatherers to Sabotage Ballot Measures\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Seminole tribe of Florida allegedly paying off LVS and DraftKings ballot initiatives in bid to maintain state casino gambling monopoly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/seminole-tribe-paying-off-signature-gatherers-to-sabotage-ballot-initiatives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-01T19:33:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-02T17:58:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/seminole.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1160\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"773\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/seminole-tribe-paying-off-signature-gatherers-to-sabotage-ballot-initiatives\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/seminole-tribe-paying-off-signature-gatherers-to-sabotage-ballot-initiatives\/\",\"name\":\"Seminoles Paying Off Signature Gatherers to Sabotage Ballot Measures\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/seminole-tribe-paying-off-signature-gatherers-to-sabotage-ballot-initiatives\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/seminole-tribe-paying-off-signature-gatherers-to-sabotage-ballot-initiatives\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/seminole.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-01T19:33:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-02T17:58:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Seminole tribe of Florida allegedly paying off LVS and DraftKings ballot initiatives in bid to maintain state casino gambling monopoly\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/seminole-tribe-paying-off-signature-gatherers-to-sabotage-ballot-initiatives\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/seminole-tribe-paying-off-signature-gatherers-to-sabotage-ballot-initiatives\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/seminole-tribe-paying-off-signature-gatherers-to-sabotage-ballot-initiatives\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/seminole.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/seminole.jpg\",\"width\":1160,\"height\":773,\"caption\":\"The Seminoles hold the monopoly on casino gambling in Florida at their seven casinos, including the Hard Rock Hollywood, pictured. 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