Rep. Bill Galvano, the Republican who heads the negotiating for the Florida House on gambling issues, has told <a href="http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/dcblog/2009/12/galvano_well_have_a_broad_new.html">Josh Hafenbrack of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel </a>that the House will introduce a broad gambling package that won’t be tied to a Seminole Compact in the regular session that begins in March.
Galvano says his members will have discussion on what they want the state to look like in terms of gambling.
Ante Up publisher Scott Long believes this is good news for the state’s poker players, since the changing of poker laws was one thing that all parties had agreed to in this year’s regular session and subsequent compact negotiations with the Seminole Tribe. Usually bills passed in the regular session take effect July 1, assuming that the governor signs them or lets them become law without his signature. What’s unclear at this juncture is whether Gov. Charlie Crist will support a more expansive gambling bill.
