Florida gaming compact overturned.

• Position: TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS - Brief article

In a suit decided by the Florida Supreme Court, Speaker Marco Rubio challenged Governor Charlie Crist's constitutional authority to enter into a 2007 gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe of Florida without legislative approval.

The court ruled that Crist exceeded his power and that the authority to change state law to allow types of gambling illegal in the rest of the state belongs exclusively to the Legislature.

The gaming agreement had given the tribe a monopoly on high stakes gambling (except for Broward and Miami-Dade counties), in exchange for paying the state $375 million over the first three years of operation and at least $100 million per year after that. The Legislature put more than $50 million received from the tribe in escrow pending the court's decision.

Until the Legislature decides the next step, the tribe continues to offer high-stakes games despite the ruling.

California, Connecticut, Michigan, New Mexico and Wisconsin also have tribal gaming revenue-sharing arrangements.

The federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 sets rules for state-tribal negotiations when it...