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Seminole Tribe Signs Pact With Florida
BY: BOB PAJICH | bob.pajich@cardplayer.com
PUBLISHED: Friday Nov 30, 2007 03:34 PM
Tribe Will Share a Guaranteed $100 Million Annually
The Seminole Tribe of Florida signed a compact with the governor that gives it the right to operate gaming facilities at seven locations across Florida for the next 25 years. The locations are in Immokalee, Big Cypress, Brighton, Hillsborough and Broward County (which has three locations).
Governor Charlie Crist signed the agreement with Mitchell Cypress, chairman of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, on Nov. 14. According to the governor’s website, the tribe will pay the state of Florida $50 million upon the federal government’s approval of the compact.
Guaranteed annual minimum payments to the state of Florida will be $100 million, and starting in the third year, the state will receive between 10 and 25 percent of the revenue on a sliding scale, depending on total revenue amounts. The Florida legislature will appropriate the funds.
The compact was on the eve of a federally imposed deadline that, if missed, would allow the Seminole Tribe to operate without sharing revenue with the state.
The only change that affects poker players is that the tribe is now allowed to hold six no-limit poker tournaments each year, with 70 percent of the revenue going to charitable organizations.
The compact will be challenged, though. The speaker of Florida’s House of Representatives filed a petition with the State Supreme Court accusing Crist of overstepping constitutional law by signing the compact without approval from the assembly. |
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