At least this is what I gathered as I was reading all those articles and pieces of news about the ongoing debate in Florida about the expansion of casinos. More so, Governor Charlie Crist said so himself that blackjack and roulette are just fine for the state if they can reap some of the benefits – that means the proceeds in form of taxes. Governor Crist is currently going through negotiations with the Florida Seminole Indians in order to upgrade or expand their casino operations.

At present, the casinos operated by the Seminoles are nothing more than glorified slot machine locations. However, if they are upgraded to Class III, they would be able to offer blackjack and other table games. This is actually not an old issue. This first came up during the term of Jeb Bush wherein the negotiations were stalled for years. Today, Governor Crist is hoping that things will be better and the negotiations will not fall through. He says, “I would encourage those who have a reluctance to not support it. And I would encourage those who would rather have revenues not generated by increased taxes to support it.”

However, the whole thing is not solely dependent on Crist’s negotiations with the Seminoles. Even if the deal were to push through, it is not clear at this point whether the legislature needs to approve the deal or not. Even Crist’s lawyers are not unanimous in their interpretation of the issue at the moment.

I suppose you guys in Florida need to sit it out a little bit more.

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