Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is asking the state’s excessive court docket to reject a problem to the Seminole Tribe’s monopoly on sports activities betting within the state.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is asking the Florida Supreme Court docket to uphold a gaming compact with the Seminoles that allowed for on-line sports activities betting. (Picture: NPR)
A pair of pari-mutuel firms are asking the Florida Supreme Court docket to invalidate the 2021 gaming compact between the tribe and the state that opened the door to let the tribe function an internet sportsbook. Attorneys for DeSantis and the legislature say these firms waited too lengthy to carry their problem and that their claims are with out advantage.
The case is a part of a two-year authorized combat led by West Flagler Associates to forestall the tribe from accepting bets over the web positioned from anyplace within the state. West Flagler earlier this 12 months did not persuade a federal appeals court docket to invalidate the tribal gaming compact, though an enchantment to the U.S. Supreme Court docket continues to be anticipated. Within the meantime, the tribe’s Exhausting Rock Bets platform started accepting wagers from choose clients final month, and the state court docket has refused to expedite its proceedings.
Not till dropping its federal enchantment did West Flagler take its case to the Florida Supreme Court docket, asking for a “writ of quo warranto” to successfully undo the actions of the governor and legislature associated to the gaming compact.
“Petitioners present no foundation for this Court docket to upend work authorised by three sovereigns of their third-choice authorized venue,” the state’s attorneys wrote in a response filed Friday.
‘Final Resort’
By ready so lengthy to file, the corporate has undermined its declare to wish the court docket to step in, the governor’s attorneys argued.
Authentic jurisdiction over quo warranto actions is reserved for really extraordinary circumstances, the place the assessment of Florida’s highest court docket is important instantly, slightly than as a final resort,” the state argues in its response. “That course of prevents prejudice to the opposing occasion that will come up from the uncertainty surrounding prolonged litigation — right here, depriving the State and the Tribe of a mutually helpful gaming compact.”
The state additionally argues that West Flagler doesn’t have the authority to hunt a writ of quo warranto, which historically can solely be sought by the state lawyer common.
However these procedural points, the state additionally argues that West Flagler’s problem ought to fail on the deserves. That’s as a result of the tribe’s sports activities betting operation suits inside the boundaries of state and federal regulation. Basically, as a result of the servers accepting wagers by way of the Seminole’s Exhausting Rock Bets platform are situated on tribal land, the wagering itself is “deemed” to have taken place there.
Pleasant Terrain
The governor faces comparatively pleasant terrain on the Florida Supreme Court docket. 5 of the seven present justices had been appointed by DeSantis, who’s pursuing what Politico has described as a “complete makeover” of the court docket.
Whereas a lot of the eye on DeSantis’ authorized technique has centered on tradition struggle points, corresponding to abortion or training versus the way forward for sports activities betting, the governor has a robust observe report to this point. The court docket’s “right-of-center majority … has repeatedly enabled DeSantis’s political agenda,” the Washington Submit reported earlier this 12 months.
Of their response to the West Flagler case, the state’s attorneys cite a precedent set by the court docket earlier this 12 months within the case of State Legal professional Andrew Warren, who DeSantis suspended final 12 months. The court docket rejected Warren’s lawsuit in June, concluding that he waited too lengthy to hunt aid by not submitting till six months after his suspension.
“[T]he incontrovertible fact that Petitioners wager the farm on efficiently defending their doubtful district-court victory on enchantment, solely to lose their federal go well with rather more slowly than Andrew Warren misplaced his … is not any excuse for his or her more-than-two-year delay in bringing their state-law claims to this Court docket,” DeSantis’ attorneys write, “which they knew full nicely can be dwell in the event that they misplaced the enchantment.”
