Gulfstream asks casino curb

Gulfstream Park has asked Florida's supreme court to enforce an earlier ruling that the Seminole tribe cannot offer table games at its seven casinos in the state.

The filing comes on the heels of a letter sent Thursday by Florida's attorney general, Bill McCollum, to the United States Attorney in Tampa contending that the federal government should pursue criminal charges against the tribe if it continues to offer table games such as blackjack and other card games. In July, Florida's supreme court ruled that the Seminoles could not offer table games, but the ruling also stated the court does not have any jurisdiction over a sovereign tribe.

The court has routinely dismissed lawsuits by Gulfstream Park seeking to curtail gambling at the casinos. In those dismissals, the court has said that it does not have jurisdiction.

The seven casinos operated by the Seminoles began offering table games after signing a compact with Gov. Charlie Crist authorizing the games last year. In Gulfstream's filing with the court, the track argues that Crist "does not have the constitutional authority to bind the state to a gaming compact that clearly departs from the state's public policy by legalizing types of gaming that are illegal everywhere else in the state."