A federal appeals court has reinstated the gaming compact struck between the state of Florida and the Seminole Tribe.
The compact initially authorized the Seminole Tribe to offer additional games, including sports betting via the Hard Rock Sportsbook app but it was blocked by a federal judge in 2021.
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In return for the additional game offering, the tribe agreed to restart payments to the state to the tune of $500 million per year.
The 30-year deal was expected to bring in billions of dollars to state coffers over the long haul.
The compact ran into opposition and legal trouble almost immediately.
Parimutuel facilities sued, successfully arguing the deal violated federal Indian gaming law.
That was the ruling that was overturned today.
Questions still remain though.
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Amendment 3, approved by more than 70 percent of voters in 2018, created a requirement in the state constitution for voters to approve any expansion of gaming off of tribal lands.
State lawmakers and Governor Ron DeSantis argued the availability of sports betting in the compact didn’t constitute an ‘expansion of gambling’ because the servers bets would be placed on would be housed on tribal lands, despite bets being placed by people statewide (off of tribal lands).
While the Amendment 3 argument has not yet been made before a state court, today’s ruling lays the framework for that inevitable challenge.
The appellate court did not agree with the “spoke and wheel” argument that has been put forth in defense of the compact not constituting an expansion of gaming beyond tribal lands. Rather, the court ruled federal law did not prohibit the expansion of gambling offered by tribes off of tribal lands.
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It left state-level constitutional challenges open for state courts to decide.
The next steps will likely be a state-level challenge, but in the meantime, get your bets in!
“Tribe is obviously pleased with the decision and reviewing it to determine next steps,” Gary Bitner, Tribe Spokesperson, said in response to today’s reinstatement.
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Governor Ron DeSantis’ office also said in a statement:
“While we are not surprised the lower court’s perplexing ruling was unanimously overturned, this is great news for Florida. We will continue working with the Seminole Tribe of Florida to ensure the success of this historic compact — the largest gaming compact is US history — which will lead to over $20 billion in revenues for the people of Florida.”
Jason Mahon, spokesman for Gov. DeSantis Office
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