The House overwhelmingly voted for the new agreement, approving it with a 97-17 margin in the extraordinary legislative session on Wednesday. The vote took place the day after the Senate 39-1 vote to approve the agreement.
Last month, Governor Ron DeSantis agreed to a new 30-year deal with the tribe to legalize sports betting in Florida. This would allow Seminoles to act as the focal point of the state's sports betting market as well as expand the casino offering to include games such as craps and roulette.
According to local media, DeSantis and the Tribe agreed to remove the language from the "Miscellaneous" section of the deal, which could allow Seminole to take control of the online gambling market, including poker, to reassure a group of conservative lawmakers who were skeptical of the new deal.
This move delays any prospect of legal online poker in Florida for at least a few years.
The agreement would also allow the continuation of the parallel service. "Designated player" card games, which were a contentious point in the negotiations, as the Seminols argued that these games violated a previous state-tribe agreement.
A previous agreement stated that the tribe had the exclusive right to offer home-based card games such as blackjack. There was a brief period in which the tribe stopped making payments to the state after a federal judge agreed the move breached an existing contract.
The Seminole tribe will be able to bet both online and at six Las Vegas-style casinos located across the state. Pari-mutuel venues will be able to offer sports betting if they enter into a contract through Seminoles.
Pari-mutuel will pay 40% of their net income to the tribe. The tribe will pay the state 10% from these funds and keep the remaining 30%. The state will also collect 13. 75% of any revenues generated by Seminole-run sports betting. The Seminole tribe will have to work with at least three pari-mutuel in the first three months in the sports betting market, otherwise the payment to the state will increase by 2%.
with a federally recognized tribe, the agreement still needs to be approved by the US Department of the Interior. It may still face some legal hurdles, however several media outlets report that anti-gambling groups argue that it violates Amendment 3, the 2018 constitutional amendment, which requires voters statewide approval for any gambling expansion.
If any of these groups decide to bring a lawsuit against a state or tribe, doing so may delay or terminate the contract altogether.
State versus tribe argues that since the operation is conducted in sovereign tribal land, it is not voted upon. Earlier this week, a group of over 100 people protested the deal outside the Tallahassee Capitol.