TALLAHASSEE -- Negotiations over a gambling deal between the governor and the Seminole Tribe have been on hold for the past three weeks as both parties await word on whether the House and Senate will modify their take-it-or-leave-it offer.

``The ball is kind of in their court,'' said George LeMieux, former chief of staff for Gov. Charlie Crist and now on the legal team representing the governor in the talks.

But legislative leaders seem unlikely to budge from the blueprint they wrote during the spring legislative session and say now that it's their final offer to the tribe.

``I don't necessarily think we're in a negotiating mood,'' House Speaker Larry Cretul said Tuesday.

Rep. Bill Galvano, the Bradenton Republican who has been the House's point man on the issue, attended the early July meeting with the tribe and governor's lawyers and told them the legislation is their final word.

``They want a counteroffer and that's not what the legislation called for,'' Galvano told The Herald/Times. ``We don't view it as an opportunity to renegotiate what was presented.''

The Legislature gave the governor until Aug. 31 to complete an agreement, or compact, with the tribe that would formally give it the right to operate slot machines and blackjack, baccarat and chemin de fer at tribal casinos in South Florida.

The deal also allows the tribe the exclusive right to operate slot machines at its casinos in Tampa and Central and Southwest Florida. In exchange, the tribe would pay the state at least $150 million a year.

Lawmakers didn't rule out the option for expanded gambling elsewhere -- such as slot machines at Miami International Airport or in other parts of the state. But if lawmakers expand gambling, the tribe won't owe the state as much money.

The Seminoles want the exclusive right to slot machines outside of South Florida. The failure of legislators to guarantee that provision was the critical sticking point during the one-day meeting, several participants said.

Senate President Jeff Atwater's chief of staff, Bud Kneip, attended the meeting and supported Galvano's position that ``the Legislature had acted,'' Senate spokeswoman Jaryn Emhof said.

`I'M CONCERNED'

LeMieux believes legislative inflexibility could lead to a failed deal.

``What's at stake here is whether we are going to have limited gaming in Florida,'' he said. ``If we do not approve a compact, I'm concerned the future of Florida is casinos in every part of our state.''

LeMieux -- who helped negotiate the initial version of the compact that was later struck down by the Florida Supreme Court because it offered the tribe card games that were not legal in Florida -- said the legislation passed last spring was better than the first agreement.

``I think the Legislature actually did some improving, but everybody has got to be flexible in the negotiations or it won't be successful,'' he said.

LeMieux said he fears that if the state fails to close the deal with the Seminoles, the federal government will step in and give the tribe gaming with no limits, and Florida will receive no new revenue from the tribe.

`WILD, WILD WEST'

That will open the door, he said, to even more slot machines -- in airports from Miami to Orlando and Jacksonville ``and the 7-Eleven in Chiefland.''

``There's a chance we're going to be back in the wild, wild West,'' LeMieux said.

Galvano sees it differently.

He said that the first compact the governor negotiated allowed the tribe to adjust its revenue sharing if additional games were added in Palm Beach County -- but it would have negated the deal completely if they were added elsewhere in the state. The Legislature's plan does the same thing, he said, but is a ``more fair approach'' because it allows revenue to be adjusted if slots are added anywhere in Florida.

Galvano believes that if the tribe rejects the Legislative offer, the federal government won't step in and the tribe will have to take the state or federal government to court.

``Despite some of the concerns that may be raised publicly or privately, the proposal contained within the bill is a fair proposal,'' he said, ``and a much better option for the Seminole Tribe than to risk everything and to go to litigation.''

Mary Ellen Klas can be reached at meklas@MiamiHerald.com.

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