A pair of Florida parimutuels Tuesday morning did what a federal court and the federal government have been approving a 2021 compact with the Seminole Tribe that grants the tribe a monopoly on sports betting.
The filing has little immediate effect on when or whether the Seminole Tribe could launch its Hard Rock Bet platform in the state, as there is still a federal case pending, and a U.S. Supreme Court appeal coming. In all of its cases, West Flagler has included requests that will keep Hard Rock Bet offline for the foreseeable future.
The filing details not only how lawmakers were out of bounds in their decisions, but also how gaming can legally be expanded in Florida. In 2018, 70% of voters in the state approved Amendment 3, which requires that any expansion come via a constitutional amendment voted on by citizens of the state. The 2021 compact sought to by that requirement, or as lawyers for West Flagler wrote, lawmakers chose to “ignore language” around that. Lawmakers themselves saw that their approval of the compact in a special session was ripe for legal action.
In the filing, West Flagler attorneys detail how Florida voters have traditionally been involved in gambling expansions, including approving a 1986 amendment to allow a state lottery and a 2004 amendment to allow slot machines in some parimutuel facilities.
The compact all but acknowledges that legal action would follow by allowing for the severability of some sections. In the filing, West Flagler attorneys wrote, “the compact itself recognized that its effort to redefine where bets can take place may well prove unsuccessful.”
IGRA being properly interpreted? 4q1f2c
Multiple legal experts believe that West Flagler’s Florida foray will fail. Constitutional law professor Bob Jarvis of Nova Southeastern told Sports Handle that the case will be “no more successful than WFA’s federal lawsuit and actually has less merit. But it will continue to keep the Seminoles on the sidelines for at least a while.” He also said it’s possible that the Florida Supreme Court won’t choose to hear the case.
West Flagler has asked the Florida Supreme Court to prevent sports betting's relaunch.
I think this effort will fail.
I believe that casino gambling, as used in Amendment 3, should not extend to include sports betting.
The definition of casino gambling in that Florida…
— Darren Heitner (@DarrenHeitner) September 26, 2023
At issue all along has been the question of whether or not the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was stretched to accommodate the 2021 compact. It is generally acknowledged that IGRA governs gaming on Indian lands, while the compact seeks to “deem” any bet placed anywhere in Florida to be on Indian land if it flows through a server in Indian Country.
That issue has been a constant in West Flagler arguments at the federal level, and West Flagler attorneys pointed out in their Florida filing that in its decision, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit wrote, “an IGRA compact cannot provide independent legal authority for gaming activity that occurs outside of Indian lands, where that activity would otherwise violate state law.”
West Flagler and Associates filed in federal court two years ago against the U.S. Department of the Interior, seeking to nullify Secretary Deb Haaland’s decision to allow the compact to become deemed approved — meaning that she did not sign off on the compact, but that she allowed a timeframe to after which is became approved. The question on the federal level does not concern the contents of the compact, but rather whether Haaland exceeded her power during the approval process.
While the federal case wound its way through the system, the Seminoles in May 2022 announced that they would suspend payments to the state until the case is resolved. Under the 2021 compact, the tribe would pay the state $2.5 billion over five years (and no less than $400 million per year), but those payments are now going into escrow s.
Within its Florida filing, West Flagler attorneys requested that the Florida Supreme Court maintain the status quo by temporarily suspending the right for the Seminoles to launch their Hard Rock Bet platform. On the federal level, a stay against launch is still in force as the appellate court awaits a response from West Flagler in its case. The goal there is to keep Hard Rock Bet offline while West Flagler attorneys prepare an appeal to the Supreme Court. So far, a U.S. District Court has found in favor of West Flagler while the appellate court found in favor of the plaintiff, the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Goal is severability of key parts of compact 6e2op
On the state level, West Flagler argued that the West Flagler parimutuels — Magic City Casino and the Bonita Springs Card Room — and their owner, Isadore Havernick, are “citizens and taxpayers that have an interest in ensuring that state officers do not exceed their constitutional authority” and further that as competitors of the Seminole Tribe’s gaming interests, the parimutuels “are directly affected by the state’s grant of an off-reservation sports betting monopoly to the tribe.”
In its conclusion, West Flagler attorneys asked that the Florida Supreme Court issue a writ quo warranto that shows that DeSantis and the legislature exceeded their authority and that triggers the severability clause in the compact. The parimutuels aren’t seeking to have the compact invalidated, but rather to have the parts dealing with statewide mobile wagering and several other sections removed.
Because DeSantis and the two lawmakers named are officers of the state, they will have 40 days to respond to the filing, which would be just before election day on Nov. 7. In filing directly with the state Supreme Court, West Flagler attorneys byed lower courts, and one legal expert said that the court would have the right to kick the case down to Leon County Court.
