Contradiction has colored Florida gambling policy since the 1940s, when scores of South Florida casinos openly flouted state law.

Slots jangled. Blackjack flourished. Floozies hung on arms of big bettors. Local cops moonlighted as casino security guards. (``Illegal gambling'' had a nuanced definition.)

After the governor from God-fearing Bartow removed Broward Sheriff Walter Clark from office in 1942 for allowing a mob-run gambling mecca to thrive in Hallandale (home to 26 casinos), the Florida Senate put Clark back in office. With back pay.

The lawmakers abhorred casino gambling. But they loved the casino money that flowed their way.

Conflicted attitudes lingered into the next next millennium. (Legislators abhorred casino gambling but protected the casino boat industry.) Lately, our anti-gambling Legislature seems flummoxed by the Seminoles, who're running slots and blackjack in a legal netherworld. The Indians negotiated two compacts with the governor. The legislature rejected the first $100 million-a-year deal and has essentially ignored the second, despite a $50 million sweetener. Yet, Indian slots jangle. Blackjack flourishes. (Floozies, lately, are just as apt to be big bettors.)

Just this week, House Speaker Larry Cretul fired off a letter to the National Indian Gaming Commission demanding that the feds shut down the Seminole blackjack tables and Vegas-style slots. ``The disadvantages to the state in attempting to negotiate a compact under the present circumstances are clear.''

Nothing about the present circumstances are clear. Not even with whom the Indians are supposed to be negotiating. ``I have no idea,'' said Barry Richard, the tribe's lawyer in Tallahassee. ``Nobody in the Legislature has talked to the tribe. It's a peculiar negotiation.''

Speaker Cretul's real disadvantage stems from the Seminoles' faithful contributions to an ever-growing escrow fund. The moment the Legislature approves the compact, the Legislature gets instant access to more than $100 million, making it ever more difficult for Cretul to keep his troops in line.

If the feds scuttle the table games, that money disappears. The tribe reverts to slots and poker. The state gets zilch. Against that prospect, temptation flowers.

``The more the escrow fund grows, the more legislators will start to waiver,'' said Bob Jarvis, Nova Southeastern University's expert on gaming law.

Jarvis suspects Cretul's letter was a bluff, a negotiating ploy to extract more money from the tribe, to limit table games, to jettison the tribe's demand for exclusive rights to casino games outside of South Florida.

Jarvis doubts the ploy will work. ``The tribe is not going to pay more money for less gaming.''

The real problem here is that the Legislature can't quite accept that Florida has evolved, piecemeal, in fits and starts, with no overall plan or strategy, into a sure 'nuff gaming state.

It's the old contradiction revisited: The Legislative leadership loathes gambling but their minions love the campaign contributions, influence money and the budget goodies that come their way from gambling.

The 2010 elections are approaching, and more gaming money will flow into Tallahassee.

If Sheriff Walter Clark was still around, he'd bet that Indian slots and blackjack aren't about to disappear.

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