Florida lawmakers consider gambling pact with Seminole Tribe

The tribe would also be allowed to introduce craps and roulette at its seven casinos, including the popular Hard Rock casinos near Fort Lauderdale and Tampa. The state would get at least $2.5 billion from the tribe over the first five years and an estimated $6 billion by 2030.

DeSantis has previously said he expects the pact to create 2,200 new jobs.

John Sowinski, president of No Casinos, which successfully won passage in 2018 of a ballot measure giving voters exclusive authority to expand casino-style gambling, said the compact would amount to a “proliferation of gambling” in Florida.

“I don’t think that’s what the people of Florida wanted when two years ago they went to the polls and said we want to lock the door and hold the key,” Sowinski said.

“We have long supported the idea of a compact,” he said, adding: “A compact, yes. This compact, no.”

There is no question a lot of money is riding on the compact. James Allen, the chief executive officer of Seminole Gaming, was especially pointed on that score.

“By not voting for the compact, the state is walking away from a minimum of $4 billion between now and 2030,” Allen told the Senate Appropriations Committee, which began reviewing a package of bills that would implement the compact.