Posted on Thu, Jul. 10, 2008

A federal judge refused a Pompano Beach casino's effort to stop the Seminole Tribe from offering high-stakes blackjack and baccarat, saying the tribe is immune from such lawsuits.

U.S. District Judge Stephan P. Mickle's late Tuesday ruling leaves open the possibility that the table games will go on for an indeterminate amount of time at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino near Hollywood.

Mickle's decision came despite last week's state Supreme Court ruling that invalidated a gambling agreement Gov. Charlie Crist struck with the tribe. The agreement allowed the tribe to offer the table games in return for hundreds of millions in cash payments to the state. But the high court said the illegal games needed to be approved by the Legislature first.

Armed with the high court's ruling, the Pompano Harness Racing Track sued Crist and U.S. Interior Secretary Dick Kempthorne in federal court, saying they should stop the illegal games from continuing.

But Mickle said Crist's only remaining role is to monitor the gambling to ensure the Seminoles adhere to their end of the bargain. And Kempthorne's department had no further role now that it ''discharged'' its duties by allowing the agreement to go through in the first place.

SOVEREIGN STATE

What's more, Mickle wrote, the Seminole Tribe is a sovereign state just like a city, state or federal government -- so it can't have its gambling agreement declared invalid in a civil contract dispute such as this one.

''Basically, they sued the wrong party. And the party they sued couldn't help them anyway,'' said Crist's lawyer, Chris Kise, acknowledging that the whole case is ``a mess.''

Here's why: the gambling agreement Crist struck with the tribe rests on a federal gaming law that isn't clear about who can make such agreements; Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio successfully persuaded the state Supreme Court to reject the gaming deal as a result; no one's sure who can really enforce which state gaming laws on tribal lands; and the Indians and states such as Florida both have sovereign immunity, so they can't really sue each other in many gambling cases.

A spokeswoman for the Pompano Beach Isle of Capri casino, Jill Haynes, said the company is considering whether to appeal.

'WRONG' RULING

State Sen. Steve Geller, a Cooper City Democrat and Indian gaming expert, said the company should appeal because Mickle's ruling is wrong.

''The department has said in writing -- and I have letters from them -- that if the contract isn't entered properly then it's not legal,'' Geller said. ``This is what appellate courts are for.''