The U.S. Supreme Court docket declined to take up a case in opposition to the Seminoles of Florida over the tribe’s settlement with the state relating to 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 over the past two years. The Seminoles will stay the only on-line sports activities betting operator within the state after the ruling.
“The Seminole Tribe of Florida applauds at present’s resolution by the U.S. Supreme Court docket to say no consideration of the case involving the Tribe’s Gaming Compact with the State of Florida,” tribe spokesman Gary Bitner advised the Tampa Bay Occasions. “It means members of the Seminole Tribe and all Floridians can rely on a vibrant future made potential by the compact.”
Struggle Might Proceed At State Degree
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 court docket initially dominated in West Flagler’s favor in 2021, however a federal appeals court docket reversed that call. The Supreme Court docket selecting to not take the case might now finish appeals on the federal stage.
“This was not a superb case for the court docket to take up,” Nova Southeastern College playing legislation professor Bob Jarvis advised WPBF. “It’s not the sort of case that the court docket usually takes up. The court docket likes to take up instances the place there’s a battle between two or extra Courts of Appeals. And right here we didn’t have that – we simply had a choice by the DC Court docket of Appeals.”
Regardless of the ruling, the plaintiffs may nonetheless search an intervention on the state stage as properly. The Florida Supreme Court docket tossed an attraction in March, ruling that opponents had filed the flawed kind of petition within the case, sending the problem again to a decrease court docket. Whether or not the plaintiffs will proceed a problem by way of that route isn’t but identified.
West Flagler Associates have argued that the state’s compact with the Seminoles runs opposite to a state ban on expanded playing accepted by voters in 2018.
