DeSantis might turn off Trump and complicate the approval of land-based casinos.

DeSantis might turn off Trump and complicate the approval of land-based casinos.

 Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, is advocating laws that would greatly increase the requirements for passing citizen-led ballot projects in the Sunshine State.  In principle, this may support the Seminole tribe's control of the state's gaming market even more and contradict Donald Trump's commercial interests.
 Florida Magnet with Dolphins
 DeSantis demanded a special session for legislators to review a range of concerns beginning today, January 27.  Most of these, including voting rights, law enforcement, and tougher immigration measures, closely fit Trump's agenda.

 DeSantis's suggested modifications to citizen-led ballot projects, however, might cause a gulf between him and Trump while helping the Seminole tribe.  The two guys share a complex, hot-and-cold relationship.

 The GOP-led legislature of the state made an amazing decision on Monday rejecting the special session and ignoring the measure.  When the regular session starts in March, though, the problem will resurfaced.

 By prohibiting third-party signature collecting, the still unnamed law would make it far more difficult for petitioners to garner the required support.  Citizens may only call a statewide referendum right now by gathering signatures from 8% of the voting population—about 900,000 signatures.

 Usually setting up tables in front of department stores, on college campuses, or close to major events, signature-gathering firms invite voters to sign petitions.  Under the new system, every voter would have to seek, complete and return petition forms personally.  Getting more than two signatures other than your own would turn into a criminal.

 An impressive tribal presence in Florida
 The measure could have significant ramifications for players of games.  This is so because every growth of gaming in Florida has to get voter permission by means of a citizen-led constitutional amendment.  Furthermore, the approval has to be at least 60%, which is a high standard by itself.  This would make casino expansion – and other problems – seem almost unthinkable when coupled with a restriction on signature collecting.

 For the Seminoles, who run the sole retail casinos in the state and hold a stranglehold on internet sports betting, this is excellent news.  In exchange for $2.5 billion in first-five year payments to the state, the tribe in 2021 inked a new contract with DeSantis allowing for such monopoly.

 Legal objections to the dubious hub-and-spoke business model, which also forms the basis for internet gambling, were survived by the Seminoles.  The tribe is still mostly preoccupied with sites on land for now.  Opening on February 6, Seminole Brighton Bay is its newest retail casino.

 Daniel Wallach, a gaming attorney, told CNN the state's initiative proposal "would seal off competition for sports betting and casino gaming."  For a market the size of Florida, he continued, such a development would be "unprecedented."

 Trump: "If I wanted it, I would have gotten it”
 Indirectly, Trump—who has looked at constructing casinos in the region—may suffer from the proposal's passage.  Former Florida governor Jeb Bush said in a 2015 GOP debate that Trump sought to buy his way into a gambling licence there in the 1990s.

 " totally false," Trump answered.  "I would have gotten it if I wanted it, promise."

 Previously running casinos in Atlantic City through his Trump Entertainment Resorts company, the 45th and now 47th president also controlled  His career in the business was turbulent, though, with bankruptcies and other scandals abound.  Now, as his answer to Bush suggests, the issue is whether he wants to resume playing.  Over the weekend, the incoming president visited with Las Vegas casino officials.

 https://twitter.com/Matt Rybaltowski/status/16838924046726
 Eric Trump, Trump's son, informed the Washington Post that his father's golf course in Doral was "unmatched from a gaming perspective".  From the Seminoles' Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, it is just over 15 miles away.  Any commercial casino in the state must comply with the 2021 compact by being 15 miles straight forward from the closest Indian Country casino.  Doral is beyond the zone, hence the Seminoles would not be able to challenge a casino facility there.

 Eliminating signature gathering would be a major obstacle, as Wallach pointed out to CNN.  But following a strong re-election, Trump is "one of the few perhaps capable of whipping up that kind of signature support."