In Florida the Seminole Tribe has grown tired of waiting. Compact negotiations that started in January 1991 stalled and since then they have been sporadically resurrected only to stall again, with additional delaying tactics employed by the former Governor of Florida. On 8 January the new Governor, Charlie Crist, offered to reopen the negotiations over Class III gaming at the Seminole casinos. Four pari-mutuels in Broward County now have the right to operate Class III gaming machines and the livelihood of the tribe could be threatened.

The Seminoles have filed a motion in federal court accusing the government of unreasonable delay and requesting the judge to rule that the US Department of Interior must approve the upgrade to Class III gaming. Should the tribe obtain the bigger payout machines by this route, Florida may lose out on a negotiated deal that would give the state a percentage of the revenue and allow it to limit the number of machines.

Governor Crist has asked that he is given the opportunity to discuss the machine issue with the Seminoles before the Department takes action. Under federal law the tribe now has the right to operate Class III machines as Florida has allowed commercial gambling of this type at the pari-mutuels in Broward County. The tribes’ lawyers, however, contend that there is no justification for further delay: ‘The Secretary's delay jeopardizes the Tribe's ability to provide competitive gaming activities which are essential to generate revenue for the Tribe to carry out governmental functions and deliver benefits and services to its tribal members.’

‘The Secretary has unlawfully withheld the issuance of procedures in the face of a mandatory statutory duty to do so. The Secretary has ignored his own regulations through the ad-hoc, unauthorized decision to suspend its informal conference for four years. Even upon reconvening that informal conference the Secretary violated the requirement under 25 C.F.R.§ 291.8(c) to issue a decision on procedures within 30 days of an informal conference. The Secretary's failure to act with respect to the Procedures over the course of seven years clearly constitutes an "unreasonable delay" under the Administrative Procedure Act.’

Governor Crist may be more sympathetic to gambling expansion in the tribal casinos than Governor Bush, but the Seminole Tribe is pushing for its right to Class III machines without a negotiating period. After seven years and the advent of rival operations, its argument seems valid and a further delay unlawful. (E-01.18.07)

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