Seminoles' resurgent sports betting app faces new legal threat
West Flagler Associates, the pari-mutuel operator fighting Florida's Seminole sports betting monopoly, has asked the state Supreme Court to end the tribe's mobile sports betting operator.
The Seminoles relaunched the app earlier this week. The move comes after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request by West Flagler's attorneys to block a 2021 gambling agreement that gave the tribe a monopoly on sports betting as well as roulette and craps.
West Flagler argued that the $2.5 billion gambling deal violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). This requires that tribal games must be played on tribal lands. But the Seminoles’ mobile app is available nationwide. Westflagler also claimed the agreement violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Legal disputes
West Flagler owns the Bonita Springs Poker Room in Southwest Florida and until recently the Magic City Casino in Miami.
It filed suit in state and federal courts seeking to void the contract. But after two years of legal wrangling, a federal appeals panel sided with the Seminoles, ruling in June 2023 that the issue was best decided by the Florida Supreme Court.
Whether it is legal for patrons to wager on non-tribal lands in Florida may be a question for that state’s courts, but it is not the subject of this litigation and is not our decision,” Federal Appeal – Judge writes to Robert · Wilkins.
The state case is pending and a decision is expected sometime next year. But in this week's filing, Siflagler complained that the tribe would benefit from the app in the meantime.
"Tribes will clearly continue to engage in off-reservation sports betting in violation of the Florida Constitution...and in the process, potentially make millions of dollars from sports betting that the courts may ultimately find violate the Constitution and exemptions." "The people have the right to determine the expansion of casino gambling," Stefflagler wrote in the document. "
Where is online betting done?
The sports betting app went live to a limited number of players on Tuesday after a two-year hiatus. Access will only be available to those who signed up for the app before the November 2021 lockdown and are current members of the tribe’s brick-and-mortar casino loyalty program.
The tribe and the state of Florida maintain that the app does not violate IGRA because its servers are located on tribal lands where wagering is processed.
It's also the state's defense against West Flagler's claim that the contract violates a 2018 amendment to the Florida Constitution that requires all casino expansion proposals in the state to go to a public vote. The state argued that this only applies to commercial sports betting outside of tribal treaties.
“The governor and the Legislature’s fictions do not change the reality that the governor and the Legislature are seeking to authorize gambling outside Indian soil,” the lawsuit states.
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Source: www.casino.org
