TAMPA — The cavernous Seminole Hard Rock Casino rocks around-the-clock with 5,000 noisy slot machines; a couple hundred poker, blackjack and baccarat tables; and superstar artifacts such as Elvis Presley’s gold piano. But gamblers who enter through the Lucky Street entrance pass first through a quiet, dimly lit hallway of black-and-white photos revealing who owns this shrine to blind luck.
 
The pictures portray life among Florida’s Seminole Indians — carving dugout canoes, living in thatch-roofed chickees. Some images date back more than a century, to a time when, according to a 1913 report to Congress, gambling was “unknown among them.”

Today, this tribe of about 4,300 controls six casinos in Florida and six more in other states, Canada and the Dominican Republic, not to mention a hotel and restaurant chain with locations in 70 countries. And it’s poised to take exclusive control of the largest legal sports betting operation in the country, thanks to a deal cut this spring with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and the legislature.

The arrangement will generate $6 billion for the state through 2030, DeSantis said in announcing the “historic compact.” The Seminoles are expected to also benefit handsomely, though they have not disclosed specific projections.

Critics such as Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber argue that the deal is a blatant move to circumvent federal law governing Indian gaming, not to mention a 2018 constitutional amendment requiring voter approval of any expansion of casino gambling — an amendment the Seminoles supported.

“The legislature and the governor seem to be doing backflips to avoid giving this to the voters,” Gelber said.
Lawsuits brought by a pair of pari-mutuel companies could yet derail the agreement, however, and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary, must still review it. She can approve or reject it within 45 days; not acting will allow the compact to take effect.

For the moment, the tribe is riding high.

“There is no one else in the casino industry with that kind of global footprint,” said Jim Allen, chief executive of Seminole Gaming and chairman of the Seminole-owned Hard Rock International.

How did a tribe that once hid in the Everglades to avoid exile hit such a big jackpot?

“The through-line of this story is not gambling but their determination to preserve their culture and their way of life,” said Jessica R. Cattelino, a professor of anthropology at UCLA and the author of “High Stakes: Florida Seminole Gaming and Sovereignty.”

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