New Florida Gambling Legislation Will Permit Donald Trump To Open Casino

Florida’s gambling industry is going to experience a lot of change in the coming months after the Florida House reviewed and voted in favour of a gambling expansion and a new compact with the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

The final votes on the proposed Seminole Gaming Compact came out at 97-17 and will now enforce a 30 year compact between the state of Florid an the tribe.

There are quite a few changes that will occur due to this Seminole Gaming Compact. One of those changes will allow for Donald Trump to open out a casino at his ailing Doral golf resort. The compact was negotiated by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) who is an ally to Trump and the language in the bill makes it appear that they had Trump in mind when the compact was framed.

One of the clauses in the compact says that the Seminole Tribe has no right to interfere with the state if it decides to issue a casino license to any operator who is more than 15 miles (in a straight line) away from the tribe’s Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood. The Doral golf course is just a little over 15 miles from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

The Doral Resort was purchased by Trump in 2012 and went through a $250 million restoration thereafter. Eric Trump who managed the property after Trump became the 45th President has made it clear that it made a lot of business sense for a casino to open at the resort which is located on 700 acres.

Expanded Gambling In Florida

The agreement between the tribe and the state comes after years of both parties being at loggerheads. The Seminole Tribe stopped paying the state around $350 million a year based on a 2010 compact after it claimed the state government violated the compact by allowing pari-mutuels to offer poker games when only tribal casinos had the exclusive rights to do so.

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The new gambling agreement in Florida will allow for expanded gambling which includes sports betting, roulette, craps and other table games. The legislation will allow individuals over 21 to place bets on sports via their smartphones from anywhere in the state. However, all of these bets will have to be processed through servers that are located on tribal land.

The tribe agreed to pay over $1 million a day to the state in gaming taxes, which will allow the state government to bring in over $2.5 billion in revenue during the next 5 years.