Florida has paid more than $260,000 to private law firms in gambling lawsuits involving the Seminole Tribe of Florida, with the likelihood of hundreds of thousands of dollars more on the horizon.
The Seminoles and the state are fighting over the tribe’s “exclusive” right to operate banked card games, including blackjack, at five of the tribe’s seven casinos. The $260,000 tab for taxpayers started building shortly before two dueling lawsuits were filed by the Seminoles and the state in October and does not include legal bills that likely will pile up before the consolidated cases go to trial.
