Florida Guv and Seminole Tribe reach agreement on $3.1b gaming compact

Florida Gov. Rick Scott and the state’s Seminole Tribe have reached agreement on a new 20-year gaming compact, which includes a seven-year, $3.1b revenue guarantee.

After much delay and public posturing, the parties announced late Monday that they’d reached a deal that will preserve the tribe’s right to offer blackjack and other house-banked card games at all seven of its casinos, two more than were covered under the previous compact that expired in July.

The tribe’s casinos will also have the right to offer non-card table games like roulette and craps. But the tribe can’t expand its facilities for the duration of the compact and must also loosen its grip on the state’s slots market.

Under the old compact, slots were limited to the tribe’s casinos and some pari-mutuel racetracks in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The new deal will allow two new slots licenses: one at the Palm Beach Kennel Club, while the other would be reserved for a potential new venue in Miami-Dade. Each of the new facilities would be allowed a maximum of 750 slots and 750 ‘instant racing’ machines.