Online sports betting in Florida is here to stay for now, and the Seminole Tribe of Florida owns it, after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a challenge to the tribe’s compact with the state.
The tribe’s monopoly over online sports betting will bring in hundreds of millions of dollars a year to both the Seminoles and the state, money Gov. Ron DeSantis has largely put toward environmental conservation efforts.
Gambling companies West Flagler Associates and Bonita-Fort Myers Corporation had challenged the compact on the grounds that it violated the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, arguing that the gambling must occur on tribal lands. While the servers and other electronic devices receiving the bets would be on tribal lands, the disputed 2021 compact allows Floridians to place them from anywhere in the state.
“Thus, the Compact unambiguously authorizes the Tribe to offer online Sports Betting to persons located off Indian lands, and then ‘deems’ such gambling to be treated as if it occurred ‘exclusively’ on Indian lands,” states the firms’ Feb. 8 petition to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The firms successfully made this argument to the U.S. District Court for D.C., which ruled in their favor on Nov. 22, 2021. But the Washington, D.C., Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision last summer, allowing the compact to stand. The Supreme Court decision to not take the case means the appeal court’s ruling stands.