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‘Good faith’ at issue in Seminole Tribe blackjack trial

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Questions of “good faith” were the nub of the first day of trial between the state and the Seminole Tribe over its ability to keep offering blackjack to casino customers across Florida. Lawyers for both sides Monday focused on the elemental question of who was right and who was wrong in the beginning of this week’s trial in Tallahassee. Or rather, who really broke the deal. The state and tribe are suing each other after lawmakers earlier this year failed to…

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Seminole Tribe ends court fight after casino finances revealed

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Outpaced and outfoxed, the Seminole Tribe of Florida dropped its bid to block the disclosure of financial information about its casinos. The tribe made the move Friday, shortly after POLITICO printed details of the deposition of casino executive Jim Allen. He runs the tribe’s gambling concerns. The political news website reported that Allen said the Seminoles made $2.4 billion last year, and nearly all of it came from the gambling business. That confirmed previous published reports of the tribe’s finances. Attorneys said in their motion…

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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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Rick Scott says legislative inaction on Compact will cost jobs

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If lawmakers fail to act on the Seminole Compact, the Tribe will pursue its own nuclear option, laying off 3,700 workers statewide at its casinos, Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday. The governor spoke to reporters after a meeting of the Florida Cabinet. “My responsibility was to work to get a compact done,” he said. “My team put together a very good Compact for the citizens of our state. It’s up to the Legislature to make their decision on what they…

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Seminole Tribe “weighs in” with another pro-Compact ad

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Another week brings another television ad from the Seminole Tribe of Florida touting its new proposed gaming Compact with the state. The latest 30-second spot, titled “The Senate Weighs In,” highlights that a key Senate panel cleared the new agreement but that it still must be passed by the full Legislature. With less than three weeks in the 2016 Legislative Session, the tribe is feeling the crunch. The Compact is worth $3 billion over seven years in revenue share to the state,…

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Rick Scott and Seminole Tribe begin PR effort for new blackjack deal

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Gov. Rick Scott and Seminole Tribe of Florida representatives on Monday earnestly began a hard sell of a new deal that would let the tribe keep blackjack at their casinos. Scott met with Tribal Chairman Jim Billie, other tribal leaders and gambling operations executives in South Florida in a meeting that was live-streamed on the Internet. They’re all trying to convince skeptical lawmakers to approve a new Seminole Compact that’s worth $3 billion over seven years in revenue share to the state,…

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Jac VerSteeg: Sen. Joe Abruzzo’s ‘wide open’ alternative to the Seminole Compact

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What happens if the Florida Legislature refuses to ratify the Seminole Compact that Gov. Rick Scott negotiated with the Tribe? No one really knows, of course, but state Sen. Joe Abruzzo, a Boynton Beach Democrat, offered a tantalizing hint toward the end of a recent workshop by the Senate’s Regulated Industries Committee. Addressing Jim Allen, the CEO of Seminole Gaming, Sen. Abruzzo said: “In looking at this and all the moving parts and how difficult this issue is, we hear…

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