TALLAHASSEE - During his tenure as governor, Jeb Bush has disparaged slot machines as a dangerous expansion of gambling, but since the approval of the amendment that authorizes a vote on them in South Florida, the governor has engaged in some high-stakes gambling of his own.
Bush must decide soon whether to open negotiations with the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians - and concede that the passage of Amendment 4 allows them to operate slot machines at their gaming parlors - or he can delay the talks, continue his fight to challenge gambling on Indian land, and risk launching an expensive legal battle with the well-financed tribe.
The governor said last week that he's not ready to talk. "This is very complicated stuff," he said. "There are no negotiations under way."
But, as with all hearty games of chance, the clock is ticking.
Federal law entitles Indian tribes to negotiate with a state to operate the same kind of gambling on their land that is permitted within state borders. It also requires that the governor negotiate in good faith within 180 days after a tribe requests that talks begin.
The Miccosukee Tribe started the clock in November, three days after voters narrowly approved the amendment authorizing Miami-Dade and Broward counties to conduct referendums allowing slot machines in existing parimutuel facilities. The tribe's early call for talks gives the governor until May 5 to get started.
Regulating slots
Complicating the governor's decision is the pending legislative debate over how to implement Amendment 4.
The implementation bill will apply only to operators of the parimutuel facilities in South Florida and will not apply to the Miccosukee or Seminole tribes. State legal advisors, however, say the legislation could establish a starting point for the negotiations with the tribes.
Legislators must decide how far to go to regulate the industry. Among the questions they're asking: Should the state or gambling companies own the slot machines? How many machines should each facility have? What will be the odds of the games, the payout and hours of operation? How much should the tax be? And, because the amendment stipulates that the proceeds from the tax will be dedicated to education, should South Florida get a larger share?
Those questions will be answered by a group of lawmakers whose opposition to gambling initiatives in the past forced proponents of slot machines to take the issue directly to voters.
Legislators who supported the amendment, many of whom are from South Florida, want the implementation bill to give the parimutuel industry wide latitude in operating the games in order to raise as much money as possible for education. Those who opposed the amendment want to allow only the most limited form of slots gambling possible.
Whatever they decide can be vetoed by the governor.
That philosophical difference has prompted one prominent gambling proponent to predict that the debate will end in a stalemate when lawmakers finish their regular session in May.
"I don't think we will pass implementing legislation this year," said Sen. Steve Geller, D-Hallandale Beach. "I believe the governor will push for very limited hours and very high taxes to prevent the parimutuels from opening the slots."
Opening negotiations
In the Nov. 5 letter to the governor, the lawyer for the Miccosukees argued that Amendment 4 marks a "significant change to the scope of gaming authorized in Florida" and asked that negotiations be opened.
Although the future of slot machines is still subject to local approval, "slot machines are no longer prohibited in Florida as a matter of statewide policy," tribe lawyer Dexter Lehtinen wrote. "Accordingly, the Miccosukee Tribe should now be entitled to slot machines as a matter of right."
Bush, however, is not ready to draw any conclusions. He said he is working on his own proposal "to provide some guidance" and impose more limits on the parimutuel industry than the bills being offered by gambling proponents.
"A lot of money is on the table here," he said. "It will be all lobbied up. Lawyered up. It might be helpful to provide an alternative to what the owners of these gambling halls would propose."
He also noted that the referendums set for March 8 in Miami-Dade and Broward counties could be critical to negotiations with the tribe.
"If Dade or Broward get slots, the tribes get slots," the governor conceded, then noted that the state must then decide: "What is the issue left for the tribes?"
Federal law prohibits the state from imposing any tax or regulation on Indian operations unless the tribe enters into a compact, or contract, with the state. Gambling on tribal lands is regulated by the Indian Gambling Regulatory Act, passed by Congress in 1988.
The act designates different classes of gambling. Slot machines are in Class 3, along with craps, roulette and blackjack, raising questions about whether the tribes would be entitled to all those forms of gaming when slots start running.