Federal Court May Reexamine Decision on Seminole Sports Gambling
A Florida cardroom owner seeks to overturn a federal court decision that upheld an agreement granting the Seminole tribe the exclusive right to sports betting in the state.
West Flagler Associates, involved in a two-year legal battle with the Seminoles, recently lost in the US Court of Appeals for the Washington, DC, District.
In a petition filed on Monday, West Flagler claims the DC Circuit Court made an error by stating that the Seminole Tribe's sports betting deal does not breach the federally regulated Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).
West Flagler requests a hearing by the entire 11-judge panel of the DC Circuit.
In June, a three-judge panel unanimously ruled that IGRA does not forbid the tribe from accepting online wagers under its contract with Florida.
Exclusive Rights
The Seminole Tribe has a monopoly on Las Vegas-style casino betting with house-banked table games in Florida. They own and manage several casinos in the region, such as the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood and Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa.
In 2021, the tribe signed a new 30-year agreement with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), making them the sole provider of sports betting in the state.
West Flagler, operating the Bonita Springs Poker Room in South Florida, claims this arrangement violates anti-off-reservation gaming laws and the Constitution's equal protection clause.
Deceptive Mechanism
The Florida-Seminole compact allowed the tribe to accept bets from anyone in the state but declared that the bets would be treated as received on tribal lands, where their sportsbook servers are located. This arrangement is deemed legal under the state constitution.
West Flagler believes this is a deceptive method to avoid state constitutional requirements. "It was an obvious ruse," the petition states. "It sought to use the federal approval of an IGRA compact for gaming 'on Indian lands' to confer a statewide sports betting monopoly on the Tribe, while making such conduct a felony for all other persons. The Compact was thus an abuse of IGRA to bypass a state constitutional requirement. It was also a violation of the Equal Protection Clause."
The Seminole Tribe responds by stating that the DC Circuit's decision was unanimously in their favor. "It's important to note the three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled unanimously in favor of the US Department of the Interior, which approved the Gaming Compact between the Seminole Tribe and the State of Florida."
As of Tuesday evening, the DC Circuit had not ruled on West Flagler's request for an en banc hearing. If the court declines to entertain it, West Flagler's final option would be to appeal to the Supreme Court.
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Source: www.casino.org
