A gambling-focused bill emerged quietly in the Florida House of Representatives earlier this week. Unlike an omnibus gambling expansion legislation proposed by a State Senator in January, the 81-page PCB TGC 17-01 takes a rather conservative stance on the provision of gambling services around the state and shies away from potential expansion.

Although the House-proposed bill comes as an almost exact opposite to the Sen. Bill Galvano-sponsored SB 8, the mere fact that two legislations may reach the Legislature before the session begins in early March has been read as a good sign for the possible implementation of any gambling reforms.

Among other things, the House measure proposes a solution to the long-running legal conflict between Florida and the Seminole Tribe. The two parties have been bickering over the tribes exclusive right to provide blackjack for almost two years now.

Under a five-year deal penned in 2010, the Seminole Tribe was granted an exclusivity to provide blackjack at its casinos across the state. The exclusivity period expired in the summer of 2015 but the tribe kept its blackjack tables, claiming that Florida had breached the contracts terms by allowing other, non-tribal, gambling venues to provide designated table games, some of which mimic actual blackjack.

Under the House-sponsored bill, the Seminoles will remain the sole blackjack providers in exchange for $3 billion contributed in several payments to Florida over a seven-year period. On the other hand, SB 8 will be trying to appease the tribe by allowing it to provide other table games like roulette and craps. However, the Seminoles will lose their blackjack exclusivity under the Senate bill.

PCB TGC 17-01 also includes provisions for the previously proposed addition of slot machines in eight Florida counties. The expansion proposal had been approved by residents of the counties in specially held referendums. The House-proposed bill bans the addition of slot machines at local gambling venues. This provision, too, clashes with what has been proposed by Sen. Bill Galvano.

If the proposed legislation is signed into law, it will also ban state pari-mutuels from offering banked table games, including the above-mentioned designated games, in which a player plays the role of the house.

Both the House and the Senate proposals will be put up for committee vote next Thursday. Here it is important to note that SB 8 passed one committee hurdle late last month, which means that it will go to the full Senate, if voted in the affirmative next week. As for the House-sponsored proposal, this would be its first committee stop.

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Florida House Goes Conservative on Gambling Expansion with New ... - Casino News Daily