The ongoing saga between the parimutuel company, West Flagler Associates, and the Seminoles’ monopoly on mobile sports betting continues as the former is asking the nation’s highest court to intervene and adjudicate the matter once and for all.
Is It Legal?
After years of legal jousting, Florida’s Seminole Tribe received the legal authority they needed to launch online sports betting across the Sunshine State last December. It was the second time around, with the first launch coming in November 2021 and lasting roughly a month before a legal ruling compelled them to shutter their digital sports betting app.
That initial ruling, by Judge Dabney Friedrich, decreed the mobile launch outside of tribal lands violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (IGRA) which states all gaming must occur on Native American lands. The Seminoles argued that because their servers are located on their grounds, that satisfied the legal requirement of where the bets are being received.
However, WFA countered that the bets were being placed outside tribal lands and that was the pivotal reason why those bets must be considered illegal. Judge Friedrich agreed, stating the following:
“Although the compact ‘deems’ all sports betting to occur at the location of the tribe’s ‘sportsbook(s)’ and supporting servers … this court cannot accept that fiction,” Friedrich wrote.
“When a federal statute authorizes an activity only at specific locations, parties may not evade that limitation by ‘deeming’ their activity to occur where it, as a factual matter, does not.
“Accordingly, because the compact allows patrons to wager throughout Florida, including at locations that are not Indian lands, the compact violates IGRA’s ‘Indian lands’ requirement,” she added, referring to the federal statute authorizing only gaming activities that occur on tribal lands.
Judgment Overturned
Judge Friedrich’s ruling was a seismic victory for West Flagler Associates and forced the Seminoles to terminate their state-wide mobile sports betting app. But it wasn’t long before that ruling was successfully appealed, giving the green light to the Seminole Tribe to restart their mobile sports betting enterprise.
Not surprisingly, West Flager Associates (WFA), in conjunction with Bonita-Fort Myers Corp, has beseeched the U.S. Supreme Court to make a final ruling as to the legality of the tribe gaining a state-wide monopoly of mobile sports betting.
U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has given the department’s blessing on the Seminoles’ sports betting monopoly and has the full support of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who inked a new compact with the tribe to give them control of digital sports wagering in exchange for $2.5 billion over five years.
The duo of WFA and Bonita-Fort Myers has now argued to the U.S. Supreme Court that allowing the Seminole Tribe to operate a sports betting operation over the internet is in violation of a Florida constitutional amendment statute that mandates voters approve an expansion of gambling at the ballot boxes before it can become law.
Hamish Hume, an attorney with the Boies Schiller Flexner firm, argued on behalf of WFA, stating to the court, “This question is exceptionally important not just for the people of Florida, but for the nationwide precedent it will set for other state-tribal compacts if the Court of Appeals’ affirmative answer is left undisturbed — as an end-run not just around state-law prohibitions on gaming off tribal lands, but also around Congress’ limitation of (the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act’s) federal imprimatur to gambling on tribal lands.”
Digital Wager Wire will continue to monitor this story and update our readers as events unfold.
