The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a case in opposition to the Seminoles of Florida over the tribe’s settlement with the state concerning working on-line sports activities betting.
The ruling got here final week and clears the deck for the tribe to proceed working wagering statewide after a authorized back-and-forth with two Florida gaming operators during the last two years. The Seminoles will remain the sole online sports betting operator within the state after the ruling.
“The Seminole Tribe of Florida applauds today’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to decline consideration of the case involving the Tribe’s Gaming Compact with the State of Florida,” tribe spokesman Gary Bitner advised the Tampa Bay Times. “It means members of the Seminole Tribe and all Floridians can count on a bright future made possible by the compact.”
Fight May Continue At State Level
The plaintiffs within the case, West Flagler Associates, argued that the settlement violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act by permitting wagering outdoors the Seminoles’ conventional tribal lands.
A district courtroom initially dominated in West Flagler’s favor in 2021, however a federal appeals courtroom reversed that call. The Supreme Court selecting to not take the case might now finish appeals on the federal degree.
“This was not a good case for the court to take up,” Nova Southeastern University playing regulation professor Bob Jarvis advised WPBF. “It’s not the kind of case that the court typically takes up. The court likes to take up cases where there is a conflict between two or more Courts of Appeals. And here we didn’t have that – we just had a decision by the DC Court of Appeals.”
Despite the ruling, the plaintiffs might nonetheless search an intervention on the state degree as effectively. The Florida Supreme Court tossed an attraction in March, ruling that opponents had filed the fallacious kind of petition within the case, sending the problem again to a decrease courtroom. Whether the plaintiffs will proceed a problem by way of that route isn’t but recognized.
West Flagler Associates have argued that the state’s compact with the Seminoles runs opposite to a state ban on expanded playing permitted by voters in 2018.
