The Florida Legislature convened a Special Legislative Session on Monday, May 17th, in Tallahassee to consider the new Seminole Compact and other related gaming legislation. The Legislature concluded their work Wednesday, May 19th, after three days of meetings at 1:02 pm. The Legislature ratified the Compact negotiated by Governor Ron DeSantis and the Seminole Tribe with a change that removed full online gaming from the Compact and requires the Tribe to not start sports betting prior to October 15, 2021. The new Compact is expected to generate $2.5 billion in new revenue for Florida over the next five years, and $6 billion through 2030. Other key provisions of the Compact include:
- Once ratified and approved by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, the Compact has a term of 30 years.
- Permit the Tribe to offer craps, roulette, sports betting, and fantasy sports contests along with the currently authorized slots, banked card games, raffles and drawings.
- Allow pari-mutuel operators to continue to conduct the designated player games, but they are limited to their current footprint and cannot have any significant expansion.
- Permits the Tribe to have three new facilities.
- Regarding sports betting, the Tribe must contract with at least three pari-mutuel operators to conduct sports betting and if they do not they must pay two percent of the potential revenue to the State.
The Legislature passed several other bills that establish a state Gaming Commission to oversee gaming in the state and decouple certain types of permit holders from running live races to be able to operate.
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This publication is for general information only. It is not legal advice, and legal counsel should be contacted before any action is taken that might be influenced by this publication.
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