After starting with 57 arrests, prosecutors are left with 17 defendants in the Allied Veterans of the World gambling case, including two former leaders of the Jacksonville Fraternal Order of Police.
Nelson Cuba, the longtime president of the FOP, and Robbie Freitas, the union's first vice president, still face 200 counts, including racketeering charges that could bring up to 30 years in jail.
Their attorney had no comment on whether they would seek a plea deal. Statewide prosecutor Nick Cox said his office had not been approached by the officers' attorneys.
Prosecutors said Allied Veterans of the World posed as a charity while giving only 2 percent of its proceeds to veterans.
Kelly Mathis, the Jacksonville lawyer that prosecutors said set up the $300 million operation, was found guilty of racketeering and gambling charges in October. The only person in the case to face jail time so far, the 50-year-old Mathis could spend the rest of his life in prison.
In addition, his license to practice law has been suspended.
Other members of the group, including those who hired Mathis, pleaded "no contest" to lesser charges that do not include jail time. Mathis was targeted as the mastermind because prosecutors said he helped investors skirt a nebulous state law that appeared to allow the Internet casinos.
Seven defendants pleaded "no contest" to misdemeanors this week, and were fined only court costs and a $50 or $100 prosecution fee.
The 17 remaining defendants are mostly minor players in the business, Cox said.
The remaining defendants will be tried in no more than two groups as early as April, said Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester.
Several defense attorneys complained that they would not have time to prepare their cases.
"Everybody's always going to have a conflict," Lester said. "The only way to do it is to get it done."
Chase Burns, who owned the software company that operated the computers, and former Allied Veterans leaders Johnny Duncan and Jerry Bass have pleaded no contest to charges that do not include jail time.
They will have a sentencing hearing Feb. 12, the same day that Mathis is scheduled to be sentenced.
Burns, Duncan and Bass were scheduled to be sentenced this week, but Cox asked the judge to delay sentencing in case their cooperation was needed in the upcoming trials. The three were listed as potential witnesses in the Mathis trial but were not called to testify.
To play slot machine-like games for cash at the Internet cafes, customers bought Internet time, which they rarely used.
Former Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll resigned the day she was questioned by Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators in March. Her public relations firm had done worked for Allied Veterans.
Gov. Rick Scott has not named a replacement for Carroll.