Florida Racinos Appealing Card Game RulingState Says 'Designated-Player' Games Illegal |
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Earlier this month, a judge in Florida said that racetracks aren’t allowed to run “designated-player” games, such as Ultimate Texas Hold’em and three-card poker, because of a ban on house-banked games at the non-tribal gambling facilities.
According to a report from browardpalmbeach.com, the racetracks aren’t going to stop the games, which involve a house-approved player sitting at the corner of the table and acting as the game’s bank. They have appealed the ruling, arguing that the games are legal.
The report pointed out that the state’s Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering approved the games in 2012, but the politically powerful Seminole Tribe complained about them. Thanks to a compact with Florida, the Seminoles have a monopoly on house-banked table games. Non-banked games, i.e. traditional poker, are legal at the racinos.
“Given the strict statutory prohibition against gambling, the intricate regulatory scheme imposed, and the narrow carve out for cardrooms, the games cannot be allowed to continue to operate in the current manner,” the administrative law judge wrote in the 54-page ruling, according to the Miami Herald. “The basic [tenet] of the cardroom statute is that authorized games are not casino gaming because the participants ‘play against each other.’ As currently operated, the designated player is a player in name only. The existing operation of the games does no more than establish a bank against which participants play.”
In a separate case, the Seminoles and the state are still working to come to terms on a new compact, which would keep the revenue sharing alive and allow the tribe to keep some exclusivity. The previous compact expired last year.
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