Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has named five new members to the Florida Gaming Control Commission, subject to confirmation by the state Senate. John MacIver and John D’Aquila have now been appointed to the role; while Julie Imanuel Brown, Michael Yaworsky and Charles Drago have been reappointed, DeSantis’ office announced on Friday.
The commission, a fairly new addition to Florida’s gaming landscape, was created last May during a Special Session in which lawmakers also passed the (now invalidated) new gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe.
The new gaming panel was established in a separate bill. The commission was established to regulate statewide gambling activities and is set to have a total of five members, meaning all positions have now been occupied. Brown, Yaworsky and Drago, now reappointed, were first announced as joining the body in January this year.
MacIver serves as General Counsel to Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and the Department of Financial Services. He previously served as Deputy General Counsel to Governor Ron DeSantis and as a senior official at the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. He will serve as Chair of the Commission.
Yaworsky will serve as Vice Chair of the Commission. He most recently served as Chief of Staff at the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. Previously, he was Legal Counsel to the Georgia Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner, Counsel to the Georgia Senate President Pro Tempore and Chief of Staff at the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
They are joined by D’Aquila -a certified public accountant and owner of D’Aquila Advisors, LLC, who previously was Chief Financial Officer of Comstock Inc., Chief Executive Officer of Select Wines, LLC and a Senior Auditor for Ernst and Young- and Brown, former Secretary of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation who previously spent ten years on the Florida Public Service Commission, serving as Chairman from 2016 to 2018.
The commission is completed by appointee Drago, Founder and President of Drago Professional Consultants. Previously, he was Secretary of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Chief of Police to the City of Oviedo and spent 29 years with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.
The FGCC’s role involves regulatory authority over tribal gaming compacts, as well as overseeing pari-mutuel operators, cardrooms, slot parlors and other forms of gaming allowed by the state constitution, with the exception of the Florida Lottery.
According to the Office of the Attorney General, the commission is required “to do a number of tasks” by July 1, 2022, including ensuring state laws are not interpreted to expand gaming, and referring criminal violations of state gaming laws to the appropriate state attorney or to the Office of Statewide Prosecution. It is also tasked with reviewing any matter within the scope of jurisdiction of the Department of Business Services’ Division of Pari-mutuel Wagering.
The gaming panel would be responsible for overseeing the sports betting market in Florida, which was put on hold in November after the amended gaming compact between the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the state was found in violation of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) by a Federal Judge.
