Florida lawmakers inch closer to gambling deal – Jacksonville … – Jacksonville Business Journal

"I'm excited about the direction this is going," Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, a Miami Republican who is the House's chief negotiator, said Thursday morning.

The issue of slots in the eight counties --- Brevard, Duval, Gadsden, Hamilton, Lee, Palm Beach, St. Lucie and Washington --- remains one of the main sticking points in the negotiations, after Diaz made an offer Wednesday that included major concessions to the Senate.

In that offer, the House partially agreed to the Senate's plan to allow nearly all dog and horse tracks to do away with live racing but keep more lucrative cardrooms or slots, a process known as "decoupling." The House, however, would require voters to approve decoupling in county referendums.

The Senate's counteroffer Thursday rejected the requirement of decoupling referendums and maintained a Senate position that would also allow jai alai frontons to quit holding matches while keeping more lucrative gambling activities.

The two chambers are also inching toward agreement on the issue of controversial "designated player" card games.

A portion of a 2010 agreement, known as a compact, gave the tribe "exclusive" rights to operate banked card games, such as blackjack, at most of its casinos. That portion of the agreement expired in 2015.

But the Seminoles filed a lawsuit, and a federal judge last year ruled that the state had violated the exclusivity agreement by allowing the designated player games --- in which a player acts as the "bank" --- at pari-mutuel cardrooms. The state has appealed the decision.

Wednesday's House proposal would cap the number of designated-player tables that cardrooms could have at 25 percent of the total number of tables. Bets would be capped at $25 per hand, a significant reduction from the unlimited bets that now can add up to thousands --- or tens of thousands --- of dollars.

In the offer made Thursday morning, the Senate's chief negotiator, Bradenton Republican Bill Galvano, proposed a $100 limit on the games and a 50 percent cap on the total number of tables.

Both proposals also would lower the current 35 percent tax rate on slots at racinos in Miami-Dade and Broward counties to as low as 25 percent, if the pari-mutuels agree to a maximum of 1,500 machines --- about 100 more than any facility currently operates. The Senate plan would also allow the racinos to add up to 20 blackjack tables, with caps on maximum bets.

Pari-mutuel operators remained upbeat about the direction the negotiations were headed after Thursday's meeting.

"We're happy there's movement, happy there's progress. All we've ever asked for is a road map for how to run our business," said Isadore Havenick, whose family owns facilities in Miami and Bonita Springs.

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Florida lawmakers inch closer to gambling deal - Jacksonville ... - Jacksonville Business Journal