Lee County Looking at Slot Machines 

Obviously it is no secret that the state of Florida has been trying to work out a deal with the Seminole Tribe to bring in slot machines and some expansion of gambling. In Lee County, the tribe is already offering slot machines and card games in Immokalee, and you’d be hard pressed to go through the county without seeing at least one advertisement for them. 

But what people see is not necessarily all there is to the picture. Legislators are currently working on a deal with the tribe that would allow them to have the slot machines and some form of expanded gambling and the state would make money off of it too. They want a deal where operations would continue as they are at the casino, but that a nice chunk of that revenue that comes in from the slot machines and table games would go to the state of Florida. 

If the deal goes as it is looking like it might, then the state of Florida could be looking at $6 billion over 20 years to the school’s education system. With the state of Florida having some of the worst schools in the nation, it is no wonder that they are looking at any possible means of making sure that there is a revenue source to build it back up. 

The Seminoles are currently running their slot machines and table games under a compact that they signed with Governor Charlie Crist, but as it did not have legislative approval it is not a valid compact. They said that they are going to continue running the games until they get a signed one – but in the interim they are making money for Florida’s education system, so it isn’t all bad.

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