--Casino expansion beyond the pari-mutuels in Miami-Dade would blow up the framework of the state’s compact with the Seminoles, which already has been nullified by the Florida Supreme Court. The compact was based on limited exclusivity, with all Seminole payments stopping if any kind of slot machines or other gambling landed beyond the South Florida pari-mutuels. So much for that minimum annual $100 million coming from the Seminoles.

New casinos would infinitely complicate the compact process, and could ultimately allow the Seminoles’ gambling empire to go on forever without a single cent going to the state.

The shame of this is beachfront resort casinos are what Florida should have based its gambling policy on long ago. Can you imagine how much the state could have made if it authorized a dozen casinos in tourist areas – say Key West, Miami Beach, Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, etc. – with a bidding war up front from casino companies for the licenses and then a healthy rake of the profits?

Instead, after numerous casino proposals were shot down through the decades (by legislators and voters), we’ve had this backdoor piecemeal gambling expansion that has led to the state getting ridiculously shortchanged.

The Seminoles and Miccosukees were able to launch an untaxed empire after the federal government passed the Indian Gaming Regulation Act in the 1980s, and local voters allowed slots at pari-mutuels in response to the tribes’ virtual monopoly.

Now the Seminoles continue to run blackjack and other table games without a compact and the federal government has shown no inclination to stop them. The pari-mutuels are playing catch up again and want a lower tax rate (currently 50 percent) and full table games.

What a squandered opportunity.

Too bad nobody had the foresight to do this right 30 years ago.

We could have been Las Vegas’ worst nightmare.

--MICHAEL MAYO