Seminole Tribe throws its support behind state authorities in Florida sports betting case
Hard Rock Bet operator files amicus brief against “untimely, unwarranted, and impermissible” West Flagler Associates petition
The Seminole Tribe has fired back the petition for a Florida Supreme Court review of the compact enabling it to operate sports betting in the Sunshine State, branding it “untimely, unwarranted, and impermissible”.
Filing a 33-page Amicus Curiae in support of respondents including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the tribal gaming operator defended its interests against the “repeated and unsuccessful” attempts by West Flagler Associates and the Bonita Fort Myers Corporation to overturn the 30-year agreement.
“The Tribe and State worked together under the authority of IGRA [Indian Gaming Regulatory Act] and Florida law to negotiate a carefully crafted gaming agreement that resolves years of previous disputes and greatly benefits both the Tribe and State,” the Seminole Tribe’s Amicus Curiae stated.
“West Flagler’s federal court challenges have failed, and West Flagler now seeks extraordinary relief from this Court. West Flagler’s untimely, unwarranted, and impermissible attempt to use a writ of quo warranto to invalidate a duly enacted Florida statute should be denied,” the document added.
West Flagler and Bonita Fort Myers submitted a petition for writ of quo warranto in September to the Florida Supreme Court, seeking a review of the 30-year tribal gaming compact agreed in May 2021, on grounds that the state had acted unconstitutionally in approving it.
In responding to the petition, the Seminole Tribe’s brief suggested the compact is a “negotiated agreement” between sovereign entities, the state, and the tribe, designed to resolve years of disputes between the two groups.
The Seminoles also claimed that the West Flagler petition fails to meet the required standard for demonstrating that a Florida law is unconstitutional.
The tribe has drawn attention to an exception within the IGRA, which, while authorizing tribes and states to negotiate compacts to offer gaming on tribal lands, does not exclusively state that gaming can occur only or exclusively on tribal lands.
Since the compact which governs online gaming followed this, the tribe suggested that IGRA is not compromised in any way by the implementation of the compact.
“Online sports betting is a subject that can be included in an IGRA compact because the wager is accepted, processed, paid, and regulated on the Tribe’s lands, and the initiation of the wager occurring off the Tribe’s lands is directly related to the gaming activity occurring on the Tribe’s lands,” the Seminoles stated.
“The DC Circuit acknowledged this was sufficient to permit the Secretary of the Interior to approve the 2021 Compact,” the tribe added.
The Seminoles referenced the Amendment 3 ballot initiative, which successfully placed authority for the authorization of casino gaming in the hands of the Florida voters.
Claiming that the “plain language” of the initiative does not supplant the legislature’s authority, the tribe asserted that the law allowing them to operate sports betting is a contemporaneous and rational interpretation of Amendment 3
“The Legislature’s interpretation of Amendment 3 as preserving its authority to deem online sports betting transactions to occur entirely where wagers are received, on tribal lands, was rational and in keeping with existing legal principles,” the brief stated.
“The Implementing Law should receive heightened deference and the Legislature’s contemporaneous interpretation should therefore be treated as dispositive,” it added.
In addition, the Seminoles said that the so-called implementing law, ie, the law by which they are allowed to operate online sports betting, uses the same approach as at least five other US states.
These states are named by the tribe as New Jersey, West Virginia, Rhode Island, Michigan, and New York.
Earlier this month, the Seminole Tribe successfully resumed the operation of the Hard Rock Bet sports betting brand both online and in a retail environment after being given the greenlight to do so by authorities.
However, the operation of this is currently the subject of both a legal challenge in the Florida Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court, where West Flagler Associates are expected to file a petition for a review of the DC Court of Appeals case in 2024.