Fla.: Feds Approve Gambling Agreement

Lawyer Blogs

[##_1L|1357596574.jpg|width="120" height="93" alt=""|_##]Federal authorities approved an agreement between Gov. Charlie Crist and the Seminole Tribe that allows expanded gambling at the tribe's casinos in exchange for payments to the state, officials said. Attorney General Bill McCollum and the governor's office said the U.S. Department of the Interior on Monday approved the compact Crist signed with the tribe. It now has to be published in the Federal Register to take effect. It was not immediately clear when that would happen, and a spokeswoman for the department's Bureau of Indian Affairs didn't return a call seeking comment.

McCollum said he is asking a federal judge to quickly hold a hearing on a lawsuit he filed last month to keep the agreement from going into effect until the Florida Supreme Court decides whether Crist was authorized to sign the compact without legislative approval.

The agreement allows Las Vegas-style slots and card games like blackjack and baccarat at the Seminole's seven casinos. The state would get $50 million immediately and $100 million guaranteed in the first year. In the second year, the state is guaranteed $125 million and at least $150 million in the third year. Following that, the amount depends on revenues - but everyone involved in the negotiations said it will quickly add up to billions.

Without the compact, the tribe would have at least been able to install Las Vegas style slots without paying any money to the state because the Florida approved slots at Broward County jai-alai frontons and horse and dog tracks.

Crist signed the compact in November. House Speaker Marco Rubio and Senate President Ken Pruitt are challenging Crist's authority to enter into the agreement on his own and the Supreme Court plans a hearing on the case Jan. 30.

Related listings

  • Public Defender Builds Injection Case

    Public Defender Builds Injection Case

    Lawyer Blogs 01/02/2008

    One of the biggest capital punishment cases to come before the U.S. Supreme Court in a generation was put together largely by a young, fresh-out-of-law-school member of Kentucky's overworked and underpaid corps of public defenders.David Barron, 29, f...

  • Ariz. court rules in favor of Taser

    Ariz. court rules in favor of Taser

    Lawyer Blogs 12/31/2007

    A former sheriff's deputy who suffered a career-ending back injury when shocked by a Taser stun gun during training has lost an attempt to revive his product liability lawsuit.The Arizona Court of Appeals on Monday upheld a Maricopa County Superior C...

  • Ohio Supreme Court Upholds Damages Law

    Ohio Supreme Court Upholds Damages Law

    Lawyer Blogs 12/29/2007

    [##_1L|1228956328.jpg|width="131" height="91" alt=""|_##]The Ohio Supreme Court upheld a state law Thursday that limits how much a person injured by a defective product can collect in pain-and-suffering damages, reversing its stance on a closely watc...

Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC

A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party

Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party

However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.

Business News

New York & New Jersey Family Law Matters We represent our clients in all types of proceedings that include termination of parental rights. >> read