Florida lawmakers to debate gambling legislation that would allow sports betting – ABC7 News

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Florida lawmakers will soon spend up to a week debating a new gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe. Already, campaigns for and against the gaming deal are underway.

On the final day of the 2021 legislative session, the Governor teased the deal while touting the record $101.5 billion state budget.

Our budget looks great, but why not get more in the kitty, right? said Governor Ron DeSantis.

The Governor has said the deal will bring in $6 billion to thestate by 2030.

A new ad by the tribe also pitches the deal as a win for the economy.

One of the biggest items in the compact is the legalization of sports betting.

The parimutuels can contract with out-of-state clients to run the back end, but everything goes back to the tribe. The tribe can also contract without of state to get that done, sad State Senator Travis Hutson, who has spent years working on gambling legislation.

The deal also allows the tribe to offer craps and roulette.

Any product lawmakers agree on is sure to be challenged by anti-gambling groups, who arealreadyarguing the new compact constitutes an expansion of gaming and has to be approvedby voters.

If Amendment 3 wasnt designed to stop something like this, the biggest expansion of gambling in Florida history, then what did voters mean by itexactly? said John Sowinski, who authored theVoter Approval of Casino Gamblingconstitutional amendment.

Lawmakers believe because any new gaming will run through the sovereign Seminole Nation, the 2018 constitutional amendment doesnt apply.

I hear theres an Oklahoma case thats very similar that has gone through the federal process. So I think were on solid ground, said Hutson.

Lawmakers have slated five days to work on the gaming issue and its possible theyll finish even sooner.

However, any legal challenges to the Gaming Compact arent likely to be resolved with such haste.

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Florida lawmakers to debate gambling legislation that would allow sports betting - ABC7 News