| Seminole Casino Coconut Creek | |
|---|---|
  | |
| Location | Coconut Creek, Florida |
| Address | 5550 NW 40th St, Coconut Creek, FL 33073 |
| Casino type | Native American casino |
| Owner | Seminole Tribe of Florida |
| Coordinates | 26°16′43″N80°11′56″W / 26.2785°N 80.1990°W /26.2785; -80.1990 |
| Website | https://casino.hardrock.com/coconut-creek/ |
TheSeminole Casino Coconut Creek is acasino located inCoconut Creek, Florida owned by theSeminole Tribe of Florida.
The casino was initially proposed as abingo hall and acard room, but it added slots in 2000.[1] There was local pushback to the addition of slot machines, with fears that the bingo hall would turn into a casino. At the time, the prevailing legal theory within the government of Florida was that the Seminole Tribe could not open a casino without the permission of theGovernor of Florida, thenJeb Bush. Bush had stated that he would not grant a license to the Seminole Tribe for a casino to open; however, theDepartment of the Interior underBruce Babbitt began the process of allowing forNative American casinos regardless of state law, as that would override local and state laws, due totribal sovereignty and theIndian Gaming Regulatory Act.[2] This was largely due to early early efforts by the Seminole Tribe to legalize gambling in Florida. In 1979, the tribe controversially opened a bingo hall inHollywood, Florida on theHollywood Seminole Indian Reservation. The result of that was the lawsuitSeminole Tribe v. Butterworth, in which theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the tribe was allowed to run a bingo hall.[3] The ruling found that the restrictions Florida was attempting to impose over the tribe was outside of its remit. This is becauseNative American reservations holdtribal sovereignty that can only be restricted by theUnited States Congress. The only regulation that Congress had passed relevant to this relating to the Seminole's sovereignty wasPublic Law 280, which gave Florida some civil jurisdiction on reservations. The Fifth Circuit found that bingo was considered to be under civil jurisdiction and that Florida's attempted regulation of Seminole bingo was outside of its civil jurisdiction allowed by Public Law 280.[4] This allowed for the Seminole Tribe to open further bingo halls, including the bingo hall in Coconut Creek that eventually became the Seminole Casino Coconut Creek.
The casino has since expanded significantly to havetable games as well assports betting, both of which were added in 2023, following the 2021 signing of a 30-year agreement relating to gambling between the Seminole Tribe and the government of Florida.[5]