The Florida Senate has approved legislative proposals to expand the number of VLT machines and lower tax rates at thoroughbred tracks in Florida. The aim of the bills is to help the tracks’ owners compete with the newly expanded Class III gaming being offered by the State’s Seminole tribe, but both measures face significant opposition.

A last ditch expanded gambling deal between the state of Florida and the Seminoles is “a fair settlement for everyone” and will be accepted by the tribe, according to legal experts and local politicians.

A special Florida House committee last night threw out a proposed deal to allow the Seminole tribe to expand gambling at their casinos in the state.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist on Monday inked a gambling compact with the Seminole Indian Tribe that his office estimates could add as much as $6.8bn to the Sunshine State’s coffers over the next 20 years.

Following Governor Crist's pleas for the Seminole and the state legislature to reach an amenable consensus on the tribe's compact agreement, a resolution has been reached and ratified by the Governor, with the state of Florida slated to receive at least $1bn over the course of the next five years.

Ahead of the close of the current legislative session next week, politicians in the state of Florida are pursuing an elusive deal that will resolve the state’s strained relationship with the Seminoles, and patch a hole in the state’s overstretched education budget.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist yesterday signed into law a measure to expand gambling at casinos operated by the Seminoles in exchange for additional payments from the tribe, but their approval of the deal, required in the next ten weeks, is by no means certain.

Governor Charlie Crist’s office has confirmed that the US Department of the Interior has approved the expanded gambling compact the Governor signed with the Seminole Indian Tribe in November but opposition to the deal within the state shows no sign of lessening.

Representatives from Governor Crist’s office and the Seminole Indian tribe told federal officials yesterday that a gaming compact could be signed within the next week, but any deal will likely face significant opposition from conservative politicians within the state.

Florida stands to receive $1.5bn over the next five years from the Seminole tribe under a new gambling compact that Gov. Charlie Crist is expected to sign as early as Wednesday.