Hard Rock Digital OSB relaunch faces new West Flagler legal challenge
West Flagler Associates slams Seminole Tribe’s attempts to sew a “fait accompli” by launching while legal challenge is ongoing
Hard Rock Digital’s (HRD) relaunch of online sports betting in Florida has drawn a venomous response from West Flagler Associates, with the parimutuel operator accusing the firm of trying force a “fait accompli” in the Florida Supreme Court by launching while two legal challenges remain ongoing.
HRD officially relaunched its online sportsbook in the Sunshine State yesterday (November 7), ending a two-year hiatus from Florida, with brand’s owners, the Seminole Tribe, citing the denial of a stay by the US Supreme Court as an endorsement to do so.
The operator was initially ordered to cease operations in Florida in November 2021, after a judge there found that the 30-year tribal gaming compact agreed between the Seminole Tribe and the state of Florida contravened the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).
A protracted legal battle has ensued, with a successful appeal by the Seminole Tribe against the Florida court ruling in the DC Court of Appeals in June clearing the way for the relaunch of the online sportsbook, only for West Flagler to ask for a stay on the ruling by the US Supreme Court.
That stay application was denied last month by the US Supreme Court, a decision which led to the Seminole Tribe relaunching HRD yesterday and announcing a retail sports betting launch at Hard Rock’s land-based casinos one month later on December 7.
At the same time, West Flagler is pursuing redress in the case from the US Supreme Court, it and fellow parimutuel operator, Bonita Fort Myers Corporation, are also attempting to overturn the 30-year tribal gaming compact via the Florida Supreme Court on grounds that it was unconstitutionally approved by Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida legislature.
Last month Governor DeSantis’s office successfully petitioned for more time to respond to the joint petition for a review of the case by the Florida Supreme Court on the grounds that the state’s Solicitor General’s Office had a “heavy workload” and could not respond immediately.
That request moved back the response deadline from November 1 to December 1, further pushing the prospect of a decision in the case into 2024.
Just 24 hours after the confirmation of the Hard Rock Digital online relaunch, the pair have filed a motion to expedite the Florida Supreme Court review originally slated for consideration in December.
At the same time, the Florida parimutuel has asked to suspend all legal provisions allowing the relaunch of sports betting pending a final ruling from the court on the petition for writ of quo warranto.
The chief reason given behind the so-called “exigency” is given as the Hard Rock Digital online sportsbook launch, without any prior indicators or warning and with these two cases still hanging over the state.
The petition for exigency asserts that if left unchecked, the Seminole Tribe will rake in millions of dollars worth of bets, which could eventually be voided if the court finds the tribe contravened both the Florida constitution and US Supreme Court, should it decide to review the case.
In addition, the West Flagler Associates motion suggests that Floridians will be “irreparably harmed” in the interim period between the tribe resuming operations and the court delivering its verdict on the case, even if that period of time is short.
“Taking advantage of the distraction created by their carefully crafted announcement on November 1, the Tribe has sought to surprise the Petitioners and this Court by presenting a ‘fait accompli’ on November 7,” the request states.
“The extraordinary actions of Respondents to side-step the will of the citizens of Florida and the Florida Constitution, enabling the Tribe’s actions, mandates the immediate exercise of the Court’s “all writs” power as requested in the Petition.
“Absent an order suspending the offending provisions of the Implementing Law, the Court will be deprived of its ability to afford complete relief in this proceeding. The damage caused by even a few months of sports betting in violation of the Florida Constitution will be irreparable,” it adds.
The petition for exigency also includes a supplementary appendix providing a number of pieces of documentary evidence confirming the placing of bets via the HRD sportsbook online.