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Lawmakers are gambling with the Seminole Gaming Compact.

Monday, members of the state budget conference decided to leave the compact out of their budget agreement. The compact could raise half a billion dollars for the state, but with three different proposals on the table, members of the conference decided to postpone their negotiations. Budget Co-chair David Rivera says negotiating a compact was slowing down the budget process, which has already been extended by a week.

“We did not what the gambling discussions to hold up the budget discussions. We wanted to make sure we had a budget and we wanted to make sure any gambling issues didn’t complicate closing on the budget,” said Rivera.

Governor Charlie Crist says if a compact isn’t approved soon, the Seminole Tribe will likely get the go ahead to expand gambling from the Federal Government. If that happens, Florida would get nothing from the deal.