Not necessarily. Gardiner is from Orlando, home of Mickey & Friends. He is part of that anti-gambling juggernaut.
As for Gov. Scott, the apparent messages seem to be mixed. He did get a lot of money from Adelson, which seems to foretell a bent towards authorizing So. Florida destination casinos. OTOH, Scott did try to push through a new Seminole compact this last spring, which would have tabled destination casinos for the next seven years. And he got some campaign contributions this year from the Seminoles as well.
Given the opposition to destination casinos from the Seminoles, Disney, the pari-mutuels and the anti-gambling expansion conservatives, I don't think they will get authorized in Florida anytime soon, despite the casino-sourced campaign contributions and the lure of increased state revenues. On the other hand, I can't see the legislature not accepting a renewed Seminole compact.
My predictions for the 2015 session:
A new Seminole compact, with increased revenues for the state and authorization of craps & roulette at some of the tribal casinos.
Some form of partial de-coupling of poker operations from racing, at licensed pari-mutuel facilities.
No slots expansion.
No destination casinos.
No new gambling commission/division.
No online poker, although the new compact might have a clause that authorizes it for the Seminoles should it become authorized to anyone else sometime during the duration of the compact.
Closing loopholes in pari-mutuel laws to prevent any further expansion.
Clarification of the anti-Internet-cafe-gambling statute.
One thing to keep in mind: a new Seminole compact does not close the door on destination casinos for the term of the compact. The state legislature in theory could change gears anytime, authorizing destination casinos. That would simply negate the terms of the Seminole compact, allowing the tribe to run all Class III gaming without revenue sharing with the state. The Florida gambling study did determine that under this scenario, the state would earn more revenues overall.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GJS70
Interesting that their argument is, let's step back and take a look at this issue.
"Andy Gardiner, the Orlando Republican set to take over this week as Senate president, says the state government shouldn't necessarily rush into another deal with the tribe over the money it makes on gambling.
Gov. Rick Scott will lead the negotiations, Gardiner said in a prepared statement, “but I think we need to take a step back and not assume that this has to be done.”
This is almost the exact wording Adelson's group first used when seeking to ban online gaming, i.e. we're not asking for a ban, we want to step back and take the time to examine this issue.
This reeks of a prelude to seeking a ban on authorizing casino expansion to me.
FYP
Last edited by PokerXanadu; 11-16-2014 at 11:51 AM.