Florida reaches gambling deal with Seminole Tribe

By Michael Peltier

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Nov 14 (Reuters) - Florida Gov. Charlie Crist on Wednesday announced a 25-year compact with the Seminole Tribe of Florida to offer Las Vegas-style gambling on tribal lands across the state.

One day before a federally imposed deadline, Crist and the tribe, which last year bought the Hard Rock cafe and casino rock-music-themed business, reached a deal allowing more lucrative slot machines and card games at the tribe's seven casinos in Florida.

The deal gives the state guaranteed payments from the Seminoles, while the tribe wins a promise from the state to bar competing casinos from opening anywhere in the state outside of south Florida's Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

"Our federal government has told us that without a compact tomorrow it would grant the Seminole tribe the right to have slot machines without any revenue-sharing or guarantees of consumer protections to the people of the state of Florida," Crist told reporters. "I believe that would be irresponsible to allow that to happen."

The pact calls for an immediate cash payment to the state of $50 million and up to 25 percent of annual gaming revenue from slot machines and card games, including black jack and baccarat.

Over the first three years, the plan guarantees $100 million or more a year to the state, which is fighting revenue shortfalls. Ongoing, Florida would receive at least 10 percent of gaming revenue on a graduated scale. Once gambling revenue tops $4.5 billion, the state's take would be 25 percent.

U.S. Indian gaming laws going back to 1988 generally allow tribes to conduct gambling operations on their sovereign lands. It also allows them to provide games equivalent to those being offered on non-tribal lands.

Broward County voters in 2005 approved Las Vegas-style slot machines at race tracks and other fading venues, which spurred tribal leaders to start negotiating with state and federal officials over expanding their own menu of games.

Under the new agreement, the tribe gains exclusive rights to operate gaming outside Broward and Miami-Dade counties. If lawmakers authorize gambling elsewhere, the compact is broken and the tribe no longer has to share revenue with the state.

Any agreement has to be approved by the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The compact may put Crist, a Republican, at odds with the state legislature's Republican leaders, who say the lawmakers must sign off on any agreement.

"Any gambling compact between the state and the Seminole Tribe is invalid without legislative ratification," said House Speaker Marco Rubio. "We have asked our attorney to review the details of the compact to examine the legislature's legal options."

Crist has argued that if the state doesn't make a compact, the federal government will and Florida will get nothing from Indian casinos.

In June, leaders of the Seminoles said in London that it plans to open Hard Rock cafes, hotels and casinos in China, India and eastern Europe in a campaign to double the size of the business the tribe bought from Britain's Rank Group Plc (RNK.L) for $965 million in 2006. (Additional reporting by Michael Connor in Miami; editing by Leslie Adler)