Seminole Tribe to Introduce Sports activities Betting in December, Cellular Sportsbooks Nonetheless Unsure
Floridians will have the ability to place authorized sports activities bets subsequent month at tribal casinos within the state. However the standing of cell sportsbooks stays up within the air.
The Laborious Rock On line casino signal on the Seminole Laborious Rock Resort and On line casino in Tampa. The Seminole Tribe introduced its casinos in Florida will start providing sports activities betting, craps, and roulette subsequent month. (Picture: Seminole Laborious Rock Tampa/Fb)
The Seminole Tribe on Wednesday introduced that it might start taking sports activities bets, in addition to providing craps and roulette, at its six Florida casinos beginning December 7. The brand new video games are offered below a revised gaming compact between the tribe and the state that was agreed to in 2021 however which has been held up in litigation since then.
The announcement comes after the Supreme Court docket final week solidified the tribe’s proper to supply the brand new video games by itself land.
“The Seminole Tribe thanks the State of Florida, the U.S. Division of the Inside, and the U.S. Division of Justice for defending our Compact. By working collectively, the Tribe, the State, and the federal authorities achieved a historic authorized victory,” mentioned Marcellus Osceola Jr., chairman of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, in a press launch.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who signed the compact two years in the past, praised the announcement, saying the brand new video games would “create jobs, improve tourism, and supply billions in added income” to Florida.
Cellular Sportsbook Stays In Limbo
The announcement made no point out of plans to open a cell sportsbook in Florida, and the tribe didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Whereas the Supreme Court docket’s resolution ended a years-long federal lawsuit, it left the query of whether or not the tribe can settle for cell sports activities bets positioned anyplace else within the state. The compact DeSantis and the Seminole Tribe agreed to in 2021 approved the tribe to function on-line sportsbooks accessible anyplace inside the state, as long as the servers themselves have been positioned on tribal land.
The federal case was narrowly targeted on the position of the U.S. Division of the Inside, which oversees tribal gaming. Inside mentioned its approval of the compact solely went so far as authorizing exercise that truly passed off on tribal lands and that anything was exterior of its purview.
State Choice
That seems to depart the choice within the palms of state courts, the place opponents of the tribe’s sports activities betting monopoly, led by pari-mutuel operator West Flagler Associates, are nonetheless urgent their case. West Flagler and its allies say that the Florida Structure prohibits anybody, together with the tribe, from working a web-based sportsbook with out first placing the query to the state’s voters, and they’re asking the Florida Supreme Court docket to successfully overrule the governor and state legislature.
DeSantis’ workplace has requested an extension to file within the case, and the court docket has prolonged the response deadline to December 1.
Final week, West Flagler filed a new notice in the state case, citing Supreme Court docket Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s reasoning in dismissing the federal case as extra proof for his or her state declare.
“If the compact approved the Tribe to conduct off-reservation gaming operations, both instantly or by deeming off-reservation gaming operations to by some means be on-reservation, then the compact would seemingly violate the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, because the District Court docket defined,” Kavanaugh wrote within the excerpt cited with emphasis by West Flagler.
Six Casinos to Host Craps, Roulette, Sportsbooks
The rollout of retail sports activities betting will start December 7 at three Seminole casinos in South Florida: Seminole Laborious Rock Resort & On line casino Hollywood, Seminole Basic On line casino in Hollywood, and Seminole On line casino Coconut Creek.
The next day, the brand new video games might be accessible at Seminole Laborious Rock Resort & On line casino in Tampa. On December 11, they’ll launch at Seminole On line casino Immokalee close to Naples and Seminole Brighton On line casino on the northwest facet of Lake Okeechobee.
Laborious Rock says the brand new video games will create 1,000 new jobs within the state.
