Tag: Indian casinos

Seminole Tribe Negotiating Compact with Florida Governor Rick Scott

By Steve Larson, Legal US Poker Sites

According to several news sources, the Seminole Tribe of Florida is nearing a completed deal on a new gaming compact with Florida Governor Rick Scott. A source close to the negotiations says a special session in May might be called for the legislature to consider a new compact with the tribe. A spokesman for the tribe gave a “no comment” when asked about the story.

Despite the rumors of a pending deal, several groups among Florida lawmakers might be slow to provide support for any deal the governor signs with the Seminole Tribe. Election year politics, social conservatism, and traditional gaming interests could stand in the way of a new compact. Against those considerations stand a possible billion-dollar windfall for the state.

2010 Seminole Compact Was Worth $1 Billion

The State of Florida and the Seminole Tribe signed a deal in 2010 with some parts set to expire in 2015. The 2010 compact guaranteed in excess of $1 billion for the state government, but bound the state’s hands in bringing in new casino developments. Some Florida lawmakers would like to see the current deal expire, so integrated resort casinos could be placed in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. These politicians believe the South Florida casinos would combine with established gaming to provide far larger revenues.

Early in 2014, several Florida legislators proposed a comprehensive gambling bill which would have spurred such competition with the tribe. House Speak Will Weatherford asked Rick Scott to renegoiatite the compact with the Seminole Tribe before proceeding with the bill. Speaker Weatherford wants a constitutional amendment placed before the electorate which requires any future gambling expansions to be approved by Florida voters. Many lawmakers have balked at such a plan, because in a divided state, such a move could squelch any gaming expansion and therefore could hurt competition by removing realistic options.

Will Weatherford Saying the House Cannot Be “Leveraged”

Any new legislation would come to the governor’s desk when the state’s $75 billion budget will be ready to be signed. Because Rick Scott has a line-item veto ower, he could eliminate individual spending items which legislators might add to the bill. This would give the governor bargaining power, but might not assure approval of a new Seminole gaming compact.

When addressing that issue, Will Weatherford said, “I don’t see the Florida House being leveraged into anything. We have been very good to the governor this year.”

Opposition Could Prove Stubborn

Several groups may be opposed to a new deal, at least under certain conditions. The Westport News speculates some lawmakers will not approve a new deal, if the legislature does not promise to help the state’s horse tracks and dog tracks.

Democrats have indicated they might not vote for the compact, if they are sidestepped in the negotiations. While Republicans are the majority party in Florida, the GOP voting bloc is not solid on the gambling issue. Some Republican politicians have been unwilling to vote on gaming compacts in the past, fearing they would be condoning gambling or expanding social ills.

Democrats Have “No Motivation to Ratify”

If that is the case this year, then Democrats will have a key role in whether a new compact is voted up or ndown. House Democratic Leader Perry Thurston said, “Quite frankly, we don’t have any motivation just to ratify what the governor does.”

In a mid-term election year, the minority party often is loathe to provide a sitting governor with any legislative victories to trumpet. In such conditions, the gambling compact might face stiffer-than-normal opposition.

Florida’s Tribal gaming industry is among the strongest in the nation. Florida is behind only California, Washington, and Oklahoma in gambling revenues for the Native American Tribes. The Indian casinos in Florida collected $2.2 billion in 2012 alone.

NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo presses tribes to resolve casino-related disputes with state, warns them of non-Indian competition

By Michael Hill, Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that New York’s Indian casinos could face competition in their backyards if talks with tribes over his gambling expansion proposal fail to yield results soon.

Cuomo’s harder public stance with the tribes comes as he tries to shepherd his proposal to bring three Las Vegas-style casinos to upstate New York at yet-to-be-identified locations.

The owners of the former Nevele hotel in Ellenville and the former Concord in Sullivan County are among those hoping to win approval to operate non-Indian casinos.

State lawmakers are considering casino legislation, and a public referendum to change New York’s Constitution to allow non-Indian gaming halls could be on the ballot as early as November.

Three of the six upstate regions Cuomo is looking at already have Indian casinos. The governor said he would not allow a new casino to operate in a region where there already is a casino run by a tribe in good standing with the state. But that could change for tribes that fail to resolve issues with the state in current rounds of talks.

“The Senecas have a decision to make, the Oneidas have a decision to make, the Mohawks have a decision to make,” Cuomo told reporters at a Capitol news conference on Thursday. “It’s the same decision factors today that there are going to be in nine months. For the legislation to work, we need certainty and we need closure.”

The Seneca Nation of Indians and the St. Regis Mohawks have, for years, been withholding casino payments to the state, claiming New York violated contracts with the tribes by allowing gambling in their exclusive territories. The Senecas, who operate casinos in Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Salamanca, have withheld more than $500 million since 2009 and are in binding arbitration with the state.

The Mohawks, who operate a casino on their northern New York land straddling the Canadian border, decided in October 2010 to stop making payments and have withheld $59 million.

The Oneida Indian Nation’s 20-year-old compact with the state does not require revenue sharing from its Turning Stone casino east of Syracuse, but it also does not grant them an exclusive territory. Cuomo suggested the Oneidas could acquire exclusive rights to their central New York territory, perhaps in context of settling longstanding land claims.

Cuomo stressed new casinos could bring desperately needed economic activity to parts of upstate New York that have been struggling for generations.

But the state, for generations, has had only mixed success in dealing with Indian issues, and it was unclear if the governor’s latest attempt would work. Even Cuomo, citing long-simmering issues with the Mohawks and Senecas, said he was dubious.

“We respect the governor’s comments today on the complexities of the issues, and we are engaged in a constructive dialogue with his administration,” Ray Halbritter, an Oneida Nation representative, said in a prepared statement.

A spokeswoman for the Senecas said they were abiding by the gag order set by arbitrators and could not comment. A Mohawk spokesman said the tribe had not had enough time to review the issues brought up by Cuomo to comment right away.

Cuomo hopes to strike a casino deal soon with the Legislature, which is scheduled to end it regular session June 20.

Under the governor’s proposal, potential casino sites would be identified by a special selection committee. No casinos would be located in New York City for at least five years, giving upstate operations a better chance to thrive, Cuomo said.

“A New York City franchise would eat at the buffet table of the upstate casinos,” he said.

Host localities and counties in the region around new casinos would split 20 percent of the government’s revenue, with the state getting the rest. The state uses gambling revenue for education aid.