Arguing that digital sports betting “is not a type of game typically found in casinos” and falls outside the Florida constitution’s definition of casino gambling, the state attorney general Friday asked the state Supreme Court to dismiss the case that could determine the future of Florida sports betting.
The plaintiff in the case, West Flagler and Associates, claims that Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state legislature went beyond their powers in adopting the 2021 compact with the Florida Seminoles, which extends the tribe’s monopoly on legal gambling to include sports betting as well as casinos.
The court filing by Attorney General Ashley Moody came 37 minutes before an 11:59 p.m. deadline Friday. The 65-page response to West Flagler’s petition listed multiple reasons it should be dismissed: the parimutuels waited more than two years since the compact was approved to file it, the Seminoles are not party to the lawsuit, the kind of relief WFA is seeking isn’t available through what is termed a “quo warranto” filing, and sports betting does not meet the definition of a casino game.
WFA previously wrote to the court that it waited so long to file at the state level because it was pursuing relief through the federal courts. Over the last two-plus years, a federal district court ruled in favor of WFA and a federal appellate court ruled against it. West Flagler is now planning to file with the U.S. Supreme Court, and it was granted an extension Friday until February to file in that court.
The intent of both cases is to open up legal Florida sports betting app, as their one choice for wagering.
WFA has argued that granting the Seminoles a monopoly and the ability to use the hub-and-spoke model to offer online sports betting throughout the state is a violation of the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. It has also argued that DeSantis abused his power in approving the compact and that any expansion of gaming must go to the state’s voters as a result of 2018’s Amendment 3 referendum, now Article X, Section 30 of the state constitution.
The court can now consider whether or not it will accept the case, or send it to a lower court, which WFA byed in its filing.
“At the end of the day, I still believe that the Florida Supreme Court will transfer the case to the Leon County Circuit Court because the Florida Supreme Court hates line-jumping/prefers to rule after a full record has been created by the lower courts,” NOVA Southeastern constitutional law professor Bob Jarvis told Sports Handle via email.
Response contends no Amendment 3 violation 3j6ih
In Friday’s filing, the attorney general offered various key points in seeking dismissal of West Flagler’s case:
The delay in the plaintiff’s filing: The court has the “discretion” to deny any quo warranto filing, and “relief can and sometimes should be denied for ‘reasons other than the actual merits of the claim.'” The response cited previous cases in which delays in filing were the reason for dismissal, and it said that in this case, “petitioners’ unreasonable delay was far worse” and that the court filing in state court came 26 months after the compact was approved.
The Seminoles are indispensible: The response stated that the Seminole Tribe stands to lose “billions” of dollars that would benefit tribal through the new compact. Moody suggests the tribe should be party to the lawsuit, but also points out that because tribes are sovereign nations, they cannot be party to U.S. lawsuits without their consent. WFA did not sue the tribe directly at either the state or federal level.
Quo warranto is the wrong avenue: According to the attorney general, this type of filing “is not a substitute for declaratory and injunctive relief.” Moody wrote that quo warranto has traditionally “guarded the state’s ‘sovereignty from invasion and intrusion,'” and further that such petitions cannot generally be filed by individuals.
Revised regs could make Florida Seminole compact 'legal' and expand other tribes' access to digital gaming.
Major changes potentially afoot.
Read all about them:https://t.co/qdNPpXl8kV
— Sports Handle (@sports_handle) March 6, 2023
No violation of Amendment 3: The state’s response takes issue with how West Flagler defines “casino gambling.” The attorney general wrote that WFA defines it as “either” games typically found in casinos, or as defined by IGRA, or any new Class III gaming categories added in the future. The state argues that new games must meet all three criteria, and retail and digital sports betting do not. The response goes on to suggest that sports betting does not share “characteristics with casino games,” but stops short of calling it a game of skill vs. game of chance.
No violation of Amendment 3 II: Moody wrote that even if Amendment 3 were found to apply to the compact, the compact itself falls into an exception outlined by IGRA, the federal regulation of Indian gaming. While Amendment 3 requires a public vote on an expansion of gaming under Florida law, the response contends it does not prevent a tribe from negotiating a compact that expands gambling on tribal lands. Under the 2021 compact, the tribe and the state agreed that a bet placed anywhere in Florida would be considered to be on tribal land if it runs through a server in Indian Country.
Eyes across the country are on that very issue, as the hub-and-spoke model is not legal or in use anywhere in the U.S. Many tribal law experts have pointed out that IGRA does not contemplate digital gaming, which wasn’t in existence when the law went into effect in 1988. The concept of deeming a bet to be on tribal land based on where the server is located is new ground that could change Indian gaming across the country.
U.S. Supreme Court allows filing extension 2a4q6
Eleven days after a pair of Florida parimutuels filed a request to extend the deadline for them to file their case in the U.S. Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Roberts granted the request Friday. The new deadline is Feb. 8. WFA filed the request Nov. 20 to extend the deadline to file its case against the Department of the Interior with the high court.
The Florida parimutuels first sued the DOI in federal court more than two years ago in hopes of keeping the Seminoles from having a monopoly on legal sports betting. The crux of WFA’s argument is that Secretary Deb Haaland improperly allowed the 2021 compact between the state and the Seminoles to become “deemed approved.” A overturned by an appellate court this June. WFA then made public its intent to pursue the case with the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a surprise launch, the @HardRockBet mobile sports betting app was up and running in Florida Tuesday morning for customers in the state who had previously signed up for an . (@jeffedelstein, click pic for story)https://t.co/tkYklzQqiE
— Sports Handle (@sports_handle) November 7, 2023
WFA asked the U.S. Supreme Court to keep a stay in place that would have prevented the Seminoles from launching Hard Rock Bet in Florida, but the court denied that request in October.
Amid the legal wrangling, the Seminoles on Nov. 7 soft-launched Hard Rock Bet, making it available to some existing Hard Rock customers. They also plan to make retail wagering available at their Florida casinos this month.
