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The Seminole Tribe in Florida are trying to keep their blackjack games up and running. The Tribe has begun a new argument on why they should be able to keep their games. The Tribe says that since pari-mutuel facilities now have virtual blackjack then the Tribe should be able to keep their table-and-dealer live version running. The Tribe requested that federal Indian gambling regulators from the National Indian Gaming Commission go to South Florida this week to inspect the new virtual games. The regulators went to Mardi Gras Gaming in Hallandale Beach.
In the virtual version, players sit around a television monitor and an electronic board is used instead of chips. Winners are then chosen from a random number generator the same as with a slot machine. According to federal law the Tribe is allowed to have any gambling game that is authorized anywhere in the state of Florida. So the question now becomes is virtual blackjack the same as the live version?
President of Mardi Gras Dan Adkins stated the games are not the same. He commented: “The virtual blackjack that we have is a slot machine—nothing else. There is no live dealer; there are no cards, no chips. Every machine has a random number generator.”
A spokesman for the tribe stated they have no comment on the matter. The Department of Business and Professional Regulation flew down to South Florida for the inspection alongside the NIGC officials. A spokeswoman for the DBPR commented that they showed the NIGC that the games are simply slot machines.
The Florida House is still trying to shut down the blackjack activity at the Seminole casinos stating that the table games are illegal.
2010-01-14
