Lawmakers talk gambling; special session possible

Florida lawmakers, perennially unable to agree on gambling legislation, may roll the dice again. A special session of the Florida Legislature is possible. Or, it could turn out the way similar efforts have ended up for years: all talk and no payoff.

One thing is clear: Some Florida lawmakers are talking about trying to reach a gambling agreement, something that eluded them during the regular 2018 legislative session, just as talks in the Legislature have proven fruitless for years.

“I can tell you that I have been contacted, and have had some preliminary conversations on what a bill might look like. It is very early,” said state Jared Moskowitz, a Broward Democrat who is his party’s point person on gambling in the Florida House of Representatives. “Before anybody gets too excited or upset on the issue of gaming, I would remind them that for the past five years we have not been able to do anything on this subject.”

Moskowitz said there’s been talk of a special legislative sesleading sion. “At this time, I think it’s nothing more than the usual discussions and conversations that go on about ‘Ooh, there should be a gaming session,” he said. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard ‘Ooh, there might be a gaming special session.”

Put another way, Moskowitz compared it to dating, a relaRep.

tionship, a marriage and ultimately the birth of children. Right now, he said, “they’ just met on [the dating app] Tinder and they’re just having a conversation.”

“There is no agreement; only some discussions,” Sen. Bill Galvano, who is slated to take over as Senate president in November, said Friday via text message.

He and House Speaker Richard Corcoran said Thursday that legislators are holding private talks about the state’s existing deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The tribe operates several casinos in the state, including the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood and the Coconut Creek Casino.

The way the deal is structured, there is a chance the tribe could end payments to the state. If that happened, Florida could lose as much as $400 million in the coming year. Depending on its provisions, gambling legislation could bring in even more to the state treasury, Moskowitz said.

“Whatever the talk is, the rumors are about going into special session, we don’t know whether they’re accurate or not,” said Barry Richard, outside legal counsel for the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

The legislative negotiators are trying to strike a deal, called a “compact,” to replace a 2010 agreement between the state and the tribe.

One of the critical provisions of the 2010 deal, giving the tribe “exclusivity” over card games such as blackjack, expired in 2015. That spawned a protracted legal battle and futile attempts by lawmakers to reach a new agreement.

The tribe pays the state more than $300 million a year for the exclusive rights to the card games and to operate slot machines outside of Broward and Miami-Dade counties. But controversial “designated player games,” which are played at parimutuel facilities, have put the payments in jeopardy.

A federal judge sided with the tribe in a dispute over whether the lucrative designated-player games breached the Seminoles’ exclusivity over offering card games such as black jack. The tribe agreed to continue making payments to the state, and gambling regulators promised to “aggressively enforce” the manner in which card rooms conduct the designated player games.

But a temporary deal between the state and the Seminoles, in which the tribe agreed to continue making the payments, expired Friday, sparking the push for a new round of negotiations.

Richard said his client is willing to listen. “It’s my understanding that nobody with the Legislature has talked to the tribe, and there have been no discussions since the session. The tribe is always happy to hear whatever the Legislature has to propose. And if they want to engage in further discussion the tribe will be there.”

One incentive for lawmakers to reach an agreement with the tribe: Voters in November will decide on a proposed constitutional amendment that would give voters control over future gambling expansions. Those decisions are now largely the purview of the state Legislature.

Not everyone thinks it’s a good idea. “Calling a special session to expand gambling in an election year is a really bad idea, especially when there is a gambling amendment on the ballot in November. Let the voters decide!” former Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, lobbyist for the Florida Greyhound Association, wrote on Twitter.

State Sen. Audrey Gibson of Jacksonville, slated to become the Senate Democratic leader in November, suggested Friday the idea of a special session shows the ineptitude of the Republican leaders who control the Legislature.

“This was not a sudden development, or a last-minute problem we needed to confront,” Gibson said in a statement. “This should have been resolved before we adjourned.”

The broader gambling issue is a big deal. “Whether they’re pro-gaming or anti-gaming,” Moskowitz said people should care. “The additional dollars and tax revenues it brings into the system could be used for things like education, health care for the poor, opioid addiction, etc., etc., etc. We could increase the perpupil spending on education from the money on gaming,” he said.

Other issues include the question of whether pari-mutuel betting operations could phase out Greyhound racing, adding slot machines to more locations, additional games for the casinos operated by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, or additional gambling locations.

State Rep. Joe Geller, an Aventura Democrat whose district includes southeast Broward, is the top Democrat on the Tourism & Gaming Control Subcommittee.

“It’s obviously a matter of serious concern to our community. I don’t know exactly what the upshot of these recent talks are going to be. We tried to get someplace during the session…. We thought we might be making some progress and it was very abruptly shut down. I think if there’s a good solution that can be found it would be great. I’m not sure how close we are to having one,” Geller said.

Like Moskowitz, Geller said it’s difficult to overstate the difficulties in reaching an agreement. Even the state’s premier industry, tourism, is divided, he said, with Central Florida interests viewing gambling as detrimental to its family friendly brand and some in South Florida seeing gambling as a plus.