Q&A of the Day – Will the Seminole Tribe Restart Sports Betting in Florida?
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Today’s Entry: @brianmuddradio The court decision is another win for FL sports betting. Does this mean the Seminoles will restart the app soon? I’ve heard it could happen on the 19th.
Bottom Line: In answer to your question...only the Tribe knows. Regarding what Monday’s decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals represents in this multi-year saga to potentially bring sports betting to Florida... That’s something I can provide clarity on in the grand scheme of this process – along with a potential timeline for what may happen one way or another. On Monday the D.C. U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided to not re-hear a legal challenge to Florida’s 2021 Seminole Compact signed by the Seminole Tribe and signed into law by Governor DeSantis which enabled sports betting. This was also the most likely outcome. As I explained July 5th when the initial ruling came down...
In a lawsuit brought about by two of Florida’s parimutuels, those behind the Magic City Casino and the Bonita Springs Poker Room, which challenged the 2021 federal judges’ ruling which stopped the upstart sports betting operations in Florida...and in a ruling no one seemingly expected to come until it did. They won. Specifically, a three-judge panel of the US Circuit Court of Appeals issued a unanimous ruling striking down the lower judge’s opinion which was rendered in November of 2021. In the majority opinion in the ruling, it stated: We see the case differently. (A compact) can legally authorize a tribe to conduct gaming only on its own lands. But at the same time, IGRA does not prohibit a gaming compact — which is, at bottom, an agreement between a tribe and a state — from discussing other topics, including those governing activities ‘outside Indian lands. Whether it is otherwise lawful for a patron to place bets from non-tribal land within Florida may be a question for that state’s courts, but it is not the subject of this litigation and not for us to decide. So, what does that mean? Two things, first there may and likely will be other legal challenges (the No Casino group which was behind previous constitutional amendment which created obstacles to implementing sporting betting in Florida has already indicated as much), second – at this very moment there doesn’t appear to be anything stopping the Seminoles from cranking their sports betting app back up just as they did in November of 2021. The question is whether they will choose to do so again until there’s more legal clarity surrounding the issue – lest there’s a different version of a similar thing that occurs a la the fall of ‘21. The Seminoles haven’t publicly commented yet, however a spokesman for Governor DeSantis has, saying: While we are not surprised the lower court’s perplexing ruling was unanimously overturned, this is great news for Florida. We will continue working with the Seminole Tribe of Florida to ensure the success of this historic compact -– the largest gaming compact in U.S. history -– which will lead to over $20 billion in revenues for the people of Florida. The issue is complicated, and many legal experts have expected this issue will land in the US Supreme Court, which if that were to happen, would mean there wouldn’t likely be any resolution to the matter this year. But what is clear is that if the Seminoles want to reopen the sports betting app there’s nothing stopping them from doing it on Tuesday.
The reason you’ve heard September 19th specifically emerge as the date that sports betting could once again commence is that it’s the date that the D.C. appeals court decision takes effect. Per appellate court rules, their decisions are legally effective 8 days following a ruling. In reality, the 19th really doesn’t mean much because the court’s original judgement, striking down the federal judge’s ruling blocking the 2021 Seminole Compact, enabled the Seminoles to start sports betting at that time. All that’s changed since the panel’s original ruling is the start of football season, which is the peak season for sports betting. The advent of football season in the midst of favorable legal rulings for the prospect of sports betting in Florida has fueled speculation. As for what comes next?
The goal of those legally opposing sports betting in Florida is obviously to attempt to prevent it from happening in Florida. What the Seminoles decide to do from here will likely dictate the timeline of the next legal steps taken. The groups legally challenging Florida’s Seminole Compact have the right to appeal to the United States Supreme Court. They have 90 days from the date of the ruling to make the appeal should they choose to do so. Given the extent of their legal challenges to date, there’s every reason to believe that they will. The bigger question is when they might file it.
Following the original D.C. panel ruling, the plaintiffs in this case waited until the final day to file an appeal. They will likely do so once again this time around, in an effort to protract the process as long as possible, unless the Seminoles do decide to restart sports betting operations in the state. If the Seminoles restart sports betting, it’s likely the appeal would be filed quickly as they’d be seeking a Supreme Court injunction against sports betting until the Court would be able to hear the case. So how will this end?
If the Seminoles opt to wait out the legal process prior to restarting sports betting, as they’ve done thus far, it could be a while. The quickest legal resolution would be for the Supreme Court to refuse to take up the case upon appeal. That could happen by the end of the year. At the longer end of the curve, if they were to take up the case, a decision wouldn’t likely be rendered until June of next year. For now, the ball remains in the Seminoles’ court. We’ll see what they decide to do. If they do restart sports betting sooner than later, it would be a sign that they’re confident they’d receive a favorable outcome with the Supreme Court.