A return of legal sports betting to the Sunshine State is suddenly back on the table following a potentially landmark legal decision in the District of Columbia.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit released a ruling on Friday reversing a lower-court judgment that struck down a 2021 compact between the state of Florida and its Seminole Tribe that allowed the latter to offer retail and online sports betting sites.
Two Florida casinos challenged the gaming agreement in court, which led to its dismissal on the grounds it permitted gambling outside of Native American lands in violation of federal law, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). The federal government, which essentially approved the Florida-Seminole arrangement, appealed the lower-court decision.
— Hard Rock Sportsbook (@HardRockSB) June 30, 2023
On Friday, the D.C. court sided with the feds, which could pave the way for the Seminole and their Hard Rock Sportsbook to resume offering Florida sports betting in the Sunshine State via their legal monopoly. Hard Rock stopped taking sports bets in the state in December 2021.
“We see the case differently,” Friday’s decision states, adding that “to be sure, an IGRA gaming compact can legally authorize a tribe to conduct gaming only on its own lands. But at the same time, IGRA does not prohibit a gaming compact—which is, at bottom, an agreement between a tribe and a state—from discussing other topics, including those governing activities ‘outside Indian lands[.]’”
Breaking news. Florida #sportsbetting alert! Today, the D.C. Circuit ruled in favor of the Seminole Tribe completely reversing the District Court. This is a huge victory for Hard Rock and the first to favorably resolve a post-PASPA challenge under IGRA. More analysis to come!
— Jeff Ifrah (@jifrah) June 30, 2023
The appeal court judges said the lower court was mistaken in “reading into the Compact a legal effect it does not (and cannot) have,” which was authorizing online sports betting outside of the tribe’s lands.
“Rather, the Compact itself authorizes only the betting that occurs on the Tribe’s lands; in this respect, it satisfied IGRA,” the appeals court said. “Whether it is otherwise lawful for a patron to place bets from non-tribal land within Florida may be a question for that State’s courts, but it is not the subject of this litigation and not for us to decide.”
As a result, the appeals court found only that the Secretary of the Interior did not violate another law by allowing the compact to go into effect and that the other challenges to the gaming agreement have no merit.
“And particularly, for avoidance of doubt, we express no opinion as to whether the Florida statute ratifying the Compact is constitutional under [the section of the Florida constitution requiring a referendum to authorize new casino gambling in the state]," the decision said. “That question and any other related questions of state law are outside the scope of the Secretary’s review of the Compact, are outside the scope of our judicial review, and as a prudential matter are best left for Florida’s courts to decide.”
Appeals aplenty
It's likely the ruling will be subject to further appeal attempts by the owners of the Magic City Casino in Miami and the Bonita Springs Poker Room. For the moment, though, the legal pendulum has swung back toward the Seminole, giving them the upper hand in one of the biggest untapped markets for legal sports betting in the United States. Outside the courts, an attempt by DraftKings and FanDuel to get an online sports betting question on the 2022 election ballot failed as well.
While bettors would be restricted to Seminole-approved wagering channels if and when they reopen, they would also be ones approved by the state of Florida, which is not currently the case. Although bettors may be accessing offshore sites to wager, those return no tax revenue to the state, which has no oversight of those operators. The Seminole are also allowed to partner with pari-mutuel partners, such as racetracks, to offer wagering.
"The Compact 'authorizes' only the Tribe’s activity on its own lands, that is, operating the sports book and receiving wagers," Friday's decision said. "The lawfulness of any other related activity such as the placing of wagers from outside Indian lands, under state law or tribal law, is unaffected by its inclusion as a topic in the Compact."
