Mission accomplished, Mr. Brunetti

[tector]

Hialeah will get it slots casino (which was the whole purpose of the "reopening" and the joke QH "meet"). Now you can quit teasing the gullible dopes who thought Hialeah would ever amount to anything other than a low-grade meet to keep a pari-mutuel license (which is the required hook for slots in Miami-Dade and Broward counties).

Meanwhile, it looks like TBD took a royal arseforking. Too bad, I like that place.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/flo...679,full.story

It's a safe bet now: Blackjack in Florida is here to stay.

Breaking a long-running legislative and legal stalemate, Gov. Charlie Crist and state lawmakers announced a landmark, $1 billion deal Tuesday with the Seminole tribe that legalizes blackjack in Florida and cements the Sunshine State as a haven for casino gaming.

The deals hands the Seminoles a five-year franchise to operate blackjack tables at five casinos, including the Hollywood and Tampa Hard Rock facilities. The Seminoles also get the exclusive rights to Vegas-style slots north of Broward, a key competitive advantage.

The tribe's $1 billion guarantee– with annual payments reaching $234 million in 2015 – is unprecedented in tribal gambling compacts in the United States, state officials said.

"This is a very reasonable deal for the state of Florida," said Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, who led the negotiations with the tribe. "It cleans up and resolves a controversy that has been festering for two decades."

Pari-mutuel facilities, another big player in Florida's $7 billion gambling industry, had a mixed reaction. The 27 tracks and jai-alai frontons scattered across the state would get no-limit poker games, lifting the current $5-a-hand restriction. The historic Hialeah Park can install slot machines. Another poker room could come to Palm Beach County.

South Florida pari-mutuels also won a long-sought 15 percent tax cut on slots profits. The extra money will allow them to make building improvements, hire more workers and advertise more, executives said.

"It's great for South Florida," said Marc Dunbar, lobbyist for Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach. "The tax break is huge. The poker is great. If you're outside South Florida, you're not so happy."

Indeed, beyond Broward and Miami-Dade counties, pari-mutuels would be shut out of lucrative slots gambling. Those pari-mutuels, including the Palm Beach Kennel Club, would be eligible for 350 gambling machines per facility, but they'd be limited to electronic bingo or "historic instant racing" on TV monitors.

The deal still requires a vote from the House and Senate in Tallahassee, which could come next week. Bipartisan approval is all but assured. The Seminole tribal council gathers in Hollywood on Wednesday to give its stamp of approval.

Amid another difficult financial year for Florida, the agreement injects $435 million into next year's state budget, a windfall that could help limit or stave off cuts to public education and road building programs.

The tribe has offered blackjack in Broward since 2008, under an agreement with Crist that the state Supreme Court later overturned. Ever since, the blackjack games have been mired in legal uncertainty. Just a few weeks ago, federal regulators were on the verge of shutting down the tables, which the tribe said would have cost around 3,000 jobs.

Now, the tribe can begin securing Wall Street financing for expansion plans at its casinos, said Jim Allen, CEO of the Seminole Hard Rock franchise. High on the list: expanding the tribe's Coconut Creek casino and adding blackjack tables there.

"We'll immediately start dusting off our plans for expansion and putting people to work," Allen said.

The deal allows the tribe to operate blackjack and baccarat tables for five years, until 2015. After that, the Legislature has to create new rules – either extending the deal with the Seminoles, expanding casino gambling to new sites or shutting down table games altogether.

The five-year expiration date could present a prime opportunity for Las Vegas gambling executives, who are making a push to build multibillion dollar casino resorts in Florida. They have a long lobbying effort ahead. The Seminole gambling deal, Galvano said, doesn't mean Florida is "breaking the barrier" into full-fledged casinos statewide.

"If you think there's a lot controversy between the Seminoles and the pari-mutuels, wait until it's Vegas and the pari-mutuels," Galvano said.

When final details are available, I'll post them.