A late session of the Florida Supreme Court yesterday decided to deny the appeal made by Governor Charlie Crist and the Seminole Tribe to challenge the July ruling that overturned their tribal gaming compact. The 6-1 vote means that the Florida Legislature or the federal government must decide whether the seven Seminole casinos can continue to operate banked card games. The Court said that Governor Crist had unconstitutionally exceeded his power last year by offering the tribe a deal for card games that are not authorised in Florida.

The Seminoles had been negotiating with Florida and four different Governors of the state for around 17 years to get a compact for Class III gaming signed. After the passing of several federally imposed deadlines for Florida to agree a compact with the Seminoles, Crist finally signed the compact last November, but the agreement was immediately challenged through the courts. In July the Supreme Court handed down the opinion that the Class III machines are legitimate but that the Legislature must sanction the banked card games.

The immediate effect of the Supreme Court ruling is that the Seminoles can continue to offer the card games but will be under no legal obligation to honour the revenue sharing compact made with the state. The dispute may be taken to the US Supreme Court by the Seminoles but the federal government, which the tribe believes has given them the legal right to operate the card games, has so far not intervened. The Florida Legislature could now ratify the compact which would see at least US$100 million a year of gaming revenue flowing into state coffers.

The Republican legislators, who for years have denied the state the opportunity of benefiting from tribal gaming revenue at a cost of many millions of dollars, still appear to be reluctant to sign the compact into law. In the mean time the card games continue and Florida continues to lose millions of much needed dollars for the state budget. However, following the elections this November the scenario could change and Florida could start to benefit from those gambling dollars. (E-09.12.08)

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