He believes the compact would allow the owner of the iconic Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach to transfer a gambling license he holds at a former dog track to that resort and open a casino there over that city’s objections. If that fails, he said they will challenge it in court as a violation of a 2018 initiative overwhelmingly approved by voters that says casino-style gambling can’t be expanded off tribal lands unless it garners at least 60% support on a statewide ballot measure.

Miami billionaire Norman Braman, a leader of the group of business owners and others opposed to gambling’s expansion as a detriment to South Florida, said Friday they will try to block the agreement in the Legislature. “The Seminole Tribe of Florida is committed to a mutually beneficial gaming compact with the State of Florida,” said Marcellus Osceola Jr., the tribe’s chairman. The tribe, once poor, now pays each of its 4,100 members, including children, more than $100,000 annually in dividends and owns the Hard Rock brand worldwide. The Seminoles, invoking their sovereignty as a tribal nation, began their gambling operations with a high-stakes bingo parlor in 1979 and have been expanding ever since, adding slot machines, poker, blackjack and other card games.

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