Florida won't block Seminole Tribe from offering mobile sports betting

The Seminole Tribe of Florida has much to be cheerful about. An attempt to overturn a deal signed between the state of Florida, its governor and the tribe was shot down by the Supreme Court of the United States earlier this month.

The plaintiffs, West Flagler Associates Ltd. and Bonita-Fort Myers Corp, a casino and a poker room respectively, have tried to once again block the compact signed under the patronage of Gov. Ron DeSantis, which allows the Floridan tribe to offer sports gambling in the state, and also extend the physical offer to the Hard Rock Digital app to enable mobile sports betting in what has been seen as a groundbreaking move.

Despite the challenges, the Seminole Tribe persisted and won a landmark victory in SCOTUS which has now been backed by the Supreme Court of Florida, the last authority on whether the tribe may indeed pursue online wagering under the terms of the negotiated compact.

The justices issued a statement on Friday last week in which they said that the motion was denied. No further legal arguments were presented in the ruling, but this is certainly another blow to the private companies trying to prove that tribe is at fault.

The legal tug-of-war began back in 2021 when Gov. DeSantis and the tribe agreed to offer mobile betting under the compact’s regulation. The app was first launched in the same year, but legal challenges mounted, and mobile sports betting was discontinued shortly after.

This was a very good deal for both parties at the time – and is still believed to be as the state hopes to collect as much as $6bn in tax by 2030. In theory, the private companies’ arguments seem legitimate, as well.

California, for example, is trying to pass sports betting through referenda (which is what the plaintiffs in Florida insist is the ordinary way), but the compact has proven to be a sort of a shortcut to achieving this goal while minimizing much of the legal fraction, notwithstanding the challenges spearheaded by West Flagler Associates Ltd. and Bonita-Fort Myers Corp.

This certainly puts the tribe in a very good position and leaves the future of brick-and-mortar businesses uncertain.

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