{"id":68068,"date":"2018-01-24T09:18:01","date_gmt":"2018-01-24T17:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=68068"},"modified":"2018-01-24T09:26:23","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T17:26:23","slug":"florida-senator-bill-galvano-against-seminole-disney-backed-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/florida-senator-bill-galvano-against-seminole-disney-backed-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Disney and Seminole-Backed Gambling Bill No Happily Ever After for Sunshine State, Says Top Lawmaker"},"content":{"rendered":"

A constitutional amendment in Florida<\/a> that would put voters in control of any future gambling expansion would be damaging for the state, an influential lawmaker warned Tuesday. The bill\u00a0has been largely bankrolled by Disney and the Seminoles, both major Florida business influences, with the Native American tribe currently controlling the vast majority of the state’s gambling venues.<\/p>\n

\"Florida
Florida State Senator Bill Galvano believes that a constitutional amendment that would let voters exclusively decide on any future gambling expansion would effectively hand a gaming monopoly to the Seminole tribe. (Image: Associated Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

Senator Bill Galvano<\/a>, who has been at the forefront of compact negotiations with the powerful Seminole tribe, said that the amendment, if passed, would eliminate the government\u2019s bargaining power, effectively handing the Seminoles a gambling monopoly which could result in less money for the state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Future of Florida Gaming at Stake<\/h2>\n

Florida residents are due to vote on the amendment in next November\u2019s referendum. Galvano suggested that lawmakers may be forced to push a gambling expansion bill through during this legislative session before the vote happens, one that finally provides a solution to the ongoing compact negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does require us to really look hard at any possible changes we can make in the gaming world at the parimutuel level and to solidify or make some final decisions with the Seminole Tribe,” Galvano told The News Service of Florida<\/em> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Because the way this amendment is worded, and it\u2019s still being analyzed, but once it passes, if it passes, will mean the Legislature is divested of control of this issue, leaving a monopoly for the Seminole Tribe, and their continued payments to the state of Florida in jeopardy,\u201d Galvano added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Florida has been attempting to come to a resolution with the Seminoles for several years, even before the tribe\u2019s previous compact expired in 2015. A proposed revenue deal that would have been worth $3 billion to the state over seven years was rejected by the Seminoles last year.<\/p>\n

Banking on a Ruling<\/h2>\n

The legislature\u2019s hand has already been weakened by a federal court judgment in late 2016, which ruled that gaming regulators had violated the original compact by permitting Florida\u2019s parimutuel venues to offer banked games (those played directly against the house or a designated player), such as blackjack.<\/p>\n

The state believed that so-called designated player games, like Three-Card Poker and Ultimate Texas Hold \u2019em, did not constitute banked games. But the Seminoles, as well as the judge, disagreed, saying whether against the house or a designated player, they are all banked games. According to the ruling, the violation gave the Seminoles the legal right to offer banked games exclusively until 2030.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is the possibility that, with the designated-player game issue not resolved, that the tribe may elect to stop paying. They have not told me that, but that\u2019s a real possibility,\u201d said Galvano, adding that the tribal operator\u2019s willingness to continue to make millions of dollars in payments was entirely \u201ccontingent on their satisfaction\u201d with state\u2019s ability to police games and protect its monopoly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A constitutional amendment in Florida that would put voters in control of any future gambling expansion would be damaging for the state, an influential lawmaker warned Tuesday. The bill\u00a0has been largely bankrolled by Disney and the Seminoles, both major Florida business influences, with the Native American tribe currently controlling the vast majority of the state’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":68070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,13,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFlorida Senator Bill Galvano Against Seminole, Disney-Backed Bill<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Florida State Senator Bill Galvano says that a constitutional amendment to let voters decide on gambling expansion could be costly to the state, adding that the Disney-backed gambling bill could be scary for Floridians.\" \/>\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=\"Florida Senator Bill Galvano Against Seminole, Disney-Backed Bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Florida State Senator Bill Galvano says that a constitutional amendment to let voters decide on gambling expansion could be costly to the state, adding that the Disney-backed gambling bill could be scary for Floridians.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/florida-senator-bill-galvano-against-seminole-disney-backed-bill\/\" \/>\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=\"2018-01-24T17:18:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-01-24T17:26:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/sen-bill-galvano.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1160\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"629\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/florida-senator-bill-galvano-against-seminole-disney-backed-bill\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/florida-senator-bill-galvano-against-seminole-disney-backed-bill\/\",\"name\":\"Florida Senator Bill Galvano Against Seminole, Disney-Backed Bill\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/florida-senator-bill-galvano-against-seminole-disney-backed-bill\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/florida-senator-bill-galvano-against-seminole-disney-backed-bill\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/sen-bill-galvano.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-24T17:18:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-24T17:26:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Florida State Senator Bill Galvano says that a constitutional amendment to let voters decide on gambling expansion could be costly to the state, adding that the Disney-backed gambling bill could be scary for Floridians.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/florida-senator-bill-galvano-against-seminole-disney-backed-bill\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/florida-senator-bill-galvano-against-seminole-disney-backed-bill\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/florida-senator-bill-galvano-against-seminole-disney-backed-bill\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/sen-bill-galvano.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/sen-bill-galvano.png\",\"width\":1160,\"height\":629,\"caption\":\"Florida State Senator Bill Galvano believes that a constitutional amendment that would let voters exclusively decide on any future gambling expansion would effectively hand a gaming monopoly to the Seminole tribe. 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