Voter Control of Gambling in Florida. (a) This amendment ensures that Florida voters shall have the exclusive right to decide whether to authorize casino gambling in the State of Florida.This amendment requires a vote by citizens' initiative pursuant to Article XI, section 3, in order for casino gambling to be authorized under Florida law. Fort Lauderdale lawyer Daniel Wallach, who predicted the 6-3 vote by the justices, says he wouldn't be surprised if Mississippi moved fast enough to allow betting on this NFL season. The amendment gives Florida voters the right to decide whether a new casino can open in Florida, instead of the Florida Legislature, which has failed in the past to reach an agreement on the issue.
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Nick SortalAfter a huge U.S. Supreme Court decision today, gambling on sports might be legal in some states in time for this fall’s NFL season. But Florida won't be one of them.
That's because approval by the state Legislature, a constitutional amendment, and sports betting's impact on an existing agreement with the Seminole Tribe of Florida stand in the way of legally laying down a wager on the latest Miami Dolphins game.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 today to strike down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, a 1992 law barring states from legalizing gambling on sports. The ruling left Nevada as the only state where Americans could wager on the results of a single game.
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Gaming-law experts had been predicting this outcome since the case was first heard in December, and some states had even begun putting procedures in place to quickly regulate bets on sports. The West Virginia Legislature, for example, conditionally approved sports gambling and has a regulatory system already in place. Mississippi also passed a bill, with regulations to come.
Fort Lauderdale lawyer Daniel Wallach, who predicted the 6-3 vote by the justices, says he wouldn't be surprised if Mississippi moved fast enough to allow betting on this NFL season. More than a dozen other states have sports wagering in the pipeline.
Then there’s Florida. Let’s knock out the more obvious roadblocks first: The state Legislature is not even in session until next year, and a simple vote for approval might face a fight in Tallahassee, where gambling votes are never simple.
This November 6, voters will also decide on Amendment 3, which basically puts all decisions to expand gambling up to a constitutional amendment. Sports betting sure looks like “gambling expansion” under that definition, so if Amendment 3 passes — and polls show it probably will — the public will have a say in approving sports betting in the Sunshine State.
But the greater challenge in Florida, and many other states, will be reconciling existing agreements, which are called compacts, with Native American tribes. In Florida, the Seminole Tribe pays more than $250 million per year to have exclusive rights to slots outside of South Florida (the Tampa area is the Tribe's biggest moneymaker) and to conduct table games at all of its casinos. South Florida racetrack casinos can offer only slots and poker. The compact can be voided, though, if there is gambling expansion.
Native American tribes, many of whom have compacts guaranteeing them some sort of exclusivity, have seen this ruling coming. At the National Indian Gaming Association Tradeshow & Convention this past April in Las Vegas, speakers devoted quite a bit of time to playing the what-if game.
“The challenge will be what your current compact allows and how the negotiations go,” said Conrad Granito, general manager of the tribal Muckleshoot Casino in Washington state. In addition to the latest Supreme Court ruling, legalized internet and mobile gambling probably aren’t far away, which would again challenge the concept of exclusivity.
Some experts expect that a dedicated sports book would be created in fewer than 100 of the approximately 480 tribal gambling operations in 28 states. That’s because so many tribal casinos are just too small. Of the more than $30 billion in revenue produced by Indian gaming, only a couple dozen casinos are responsible for about three-fourths of the haul.
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Jonodev Chaudhuri, chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission, was coy about whether local tribes would be interested in sports betting during a talk at a meeting of the National Council of Legislators From Gaming States this past January in Miami. He noted that for many tribes, adding another gambling enterprise — one that doesn’t make that much money, really — could be a difficult sell. Chaudhuri notes that most of the tribal facilities basically provide essential revenue for the well-being of tribes.
“They’re basically jobs programs located in rural communities,” he said, adding that sports betting is a low-margin business. The house keeps only 5 percent of the amount bet and must pay staffing and other essentials.
Inside the casino world, the American Gaming Association has made legalizing sports gambling its pet issue for about two years. So today is the company's payday.
But for the general public, there are many details left to be handled. A solid guess is you’ll be able to place a legal sports bet in South Florida around the same time the Miami Marlins vie for a pennant.
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TAMPA, Florida — Voters could soon change the way casino gambling expands in Florida. Amendment 3 would take control over expanding casinos in Florida away from the Florida Legislature, and leave it in the hands of the people.
But it's more complex than it sounds, and if you want to see more casinos in Florida, this amendment may not be for you.
- DECISION 2018: Latest News Voting Guide
- IN FOCUS: We took a closer look at Amendment 3 on our half-hour show
FAST FACTS ABOUT AMENDMENT 3
- Amendment 3 is titled 'Voter Control of Gambling in Florida'
- It gives voters 'exclusive' rights to authorize casino gambling in the state
- Currently, state lawmakers are part of the process
- Voters would decide on gambling by citizens initiative
- Disney and the Seminole Tribe are big supporters
- Experts say if Amendment 3 passes, it would restrict the expansion of gambling in the state
- The amendment excludes tribal facilities
- Needs 60 percent of vote to pass
What is Amendment 3?
The full text of the proposed amendment can be found on the Florida Division of Elections website. The amendment would add new Section 29 to Article X in the Florida Constitution.
Amendment 3 gives voters 'exclusive right to decide whether to authorize casino gambling in the State of Florida.'
Right now, it's up to the Florida Legislature to decide whether to expand gaming in Florida.
How would voters have control of gambling?
'This amendment would require any future changes to actually be put on the ballot as a citizens initiative,' said New College of Florida Political Science Professor Frank Alcock.
Citizens initiatives are amendments to the Florida Constitution put forth by a group. They get on the ballot by having a number of verified petition signatures equal to 8 percent of the votes cast in the last presidential election. For instance, to get Amendment 3 on the ballot, the group Voters in Charge of Florida had to get 766,200 petition signatures from Florida voters.
Moreover, they also had to make sure that the number of signatures equals 8 percent of the districtwide vote in at least 14 of Florida's 27 congressional districts. So they can't just be 1 million voters in Orange County supporting this amendment.
Then, if the initiative gets on the ballot, 60 percent voters across Florida need to approve the measure.
This amendment would not affect any casinos run by the Seminole Tribe, which is among the groups bankrolling this initiative. It would, however, affect how other gambling facilities, such as poker rooms at race tracks, can operate.
Casino Vote Florida
So here's what this looks like:
Say Bay County residents (in the panhandle) want to open a non-Seminole tribe casino. It forms a citizen initiative and draws up an amendment to the constitution.
It now has to fan across the state and collect over 766,000 signatures in at least 14 counties in order for the amendment to get on the ballot.
Gambling Vote In Florida
If it makes the ballot, it then needs to convince 60 percent of voters to allow that casino.
Who supports this amendment?
The group Voters in Charge is run by John Sowinski, who has long opposed efforts to expand gambling in Florida with his group, No Casinos Inc.
On our show In Focus, Sowinski said this amendment allows the legislature to get back to focusing on more important issues, and also takes away the incentive for pro-casino and anti-casino interests from backing politicians.
The Walt Disney Company had and the Seminole Tribe have poured millions into this campaign, according tothe Florida Division of Elections. Neither group has publicly commented on why its supporting the amendment.
Who opposes this amendment?
Opponents include some members of the Florida Legislature, the Florida chapter of the American Legion, and South Florida racetrack owner West Flagler Associates, which runs Magic City Casino and Flagler Dog Track in Miami.
The American Legion opposes the amendment because its says that charitable gaming by organizations, such as raffles or pull tabs, could also be affected in this amendment.