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Seminole Compact dies (again) in Florida Legislature

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The Florida House of Representatives “temporarily postponed” consideration of this year’s troubled gambling legislation, suggesting last-minute whip counts showed a lack of votes to pass the bills. Friday’s move signals that any possibility of legislative approval of the state’s new gambling agreement, or compact, with the Seminole Tribe of Florida is dead for the session, which ends next Friday. The Senate had already given up on it: The compact “will be for another day, and for somebody else to handle,” President Andy…

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House all but declares defeat on Seminole Compact, gambling legislation

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Their lips were saying “not dead yet” but House leadership otherwise made clear that the Seminole Compact and gambling legislation were goners for this session. “I’m not ready to declare it dead yet,” said state Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, the Miami Republican who shepherded the bills through the process this year. Diaz spoke after the House’s floor session. After a deep breath, he added, “…but that’s the word around town.” Diaz said he talked to his counterpart, state Sen. Rob…

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Andy Gardiner questions impact of changed Seminole Compact, gambling bill

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Senate President Andy Gardiner says he’s still unclear whether changes made this week to the proposed gambling deal between the state and the Seminole Tribe of Florida would violate an existing deal between the two. “We probably have to get some revenue estimating numbers to find out,” he told reporters after Thursday’s floor session. “There are some that will believe it affects the existing compact, and if it passes, the existing compact will go away.” The tribe already has paid Florida more than…

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Is it “expanding gambling” to sell lottery tickets at gas pumps?

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Legislation is moving in the Legislature that would allow people to buy their lottery tickets at the gas pump despite a lingering question that the measure is an expansion of gambling. The question is more than moral or academic: Expanded gambling is a condition for the Seminole Tribe of Florida to stop sharing revenue from its casinos. The tribe kicks more than $200 million a year into state coffers. “Any expansion of gaming or use of lottery vending machines, beyond what…

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Gambling expert says Seminoles may run afoul of organized crime laws

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A prominent gambling-law expert is suggesting that the state has other pressure points to apply to the Seminole Tribe of Florida in an ongoing fight over offering blackjack at its casinos, including going after it with organized crime laws. Professor I. Nelson Rose of California’s Whittier Law School said he first offered that advice to the Senate six years ago, when it sought him out for guidance before the current agreement, known as the Seminole Compact, was enacted. “The legal analysis would…

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Seminole Tribe sues state over blackjack

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The Seminole Tribe of Florida now is asking a federal judge to let it keep blackjack at its casinos across the state. Florida and the tribe signed a deal in 2010 but the provision that allows blackjack and other banked card games expires at the end of this month. The tribe is supposed to remove its blackjack tables by then. The tribe and the state have been in mediation. On Monday, however, the tribe filed a federal lawsuit against the…

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Seminoles secretly meet with Rick Scott over blackjack

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Representatives of the Seminole Tribe of Florida have been meeting secretly with Gov. Rick Scott and his staff this week as the deadline grows near for a new deal for the tribe to continue offering blackjack and other card games at its casinos. The two sides met Tuesday, as first reported by the Miami Herald, and again Wednesday, according to Seminoles spokesman Gary Bitner. The Governor’s Office confirmed but did not comment on the meetings, and Bitner would not comment other than…

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