While the gaming compact that Gov. Crist signed with the Seminoles of Florida would authorize Class III slots, blackjack and baccarat at the tribe's "seven" casinos, one of the seven -- which seems certain to become the most controversial -- at this point hardly can be called a casino and is barely on the radar screen.

The so-called Seminole Big Cypress Casino, which opened in late 2006 on the tribe's largest reservation south of Lake Okeechobee, is little more than a white tent housing a few dozen slot machines, a handful of vending machines, and requiring anyone needing to go to the bathroom to head outside to use portable toilets.

As gaming facilities go, the Big Cypress operation is a far cry from even the tribe's smallest real casino, the Seminole Brighton Casino, and bears no resemblance whatever to the Seminole Hard Rock Casinos in Hollywood and Tampa.

But while the Seminoles have said they have no plans to expand the Big Cypress casino, they also have refused to rule out the possibility of turning it into a big-time gaming palace -- and that is what has some Florida environmentalists worried.

The 35,000-acre Seminole Big Cypress Indian Reservation sits on the northern edge of the Big Cypress National Preserve, just north of Allegator Alley and the Miccosukee Indian Reservation, in the Florida Everglades.

Since the mid-1990s, the Seminoles have run a relatively low-key resort that enables visitors to venture into Everglades wetlands where wildlife abounds,, and even stay overnight in a chickee (a thatched-roofed hut raised on wooden pilings) and experience round-the-campfire Indian folklore storytelling.

Environmentals worry that a decision at some point in the future to turn this educational operation into a major "destination resort" -- featuring a huge casino and hotel -- would bring a surge in traffic that could further endanger the Everglades ecosystem, and even pose an increased threat to the Florida panther.

At present, the Seminoles do not promote the Big Cypress Casino as they do their other six casinos, and most South Floridians looking for a place to play slot machines are not even aware of the slots tent on the Big Cypress reservation about an hour east of Fort Lauderdale.

But in their negotiations with Crist over the gaming compact, the Seminoles made it clear they had no intention of surrendering the right to expand the Big Cypress gaming operation -- and the compact gives them the right to do anything at Big Cypress that they do at their Hard Rock casinos.

While this stealth "seventh" casino has received little attention in the legal battle already raging over the compact, the question of what the Seminoles ultimately have in mind for the Big Cypress casino could ultimately become the subject of considerable controversy.