West Flagler Associates plays for extra time in Florida sports betting case

Florida-based parimutuel operator West Flagler Associates has applied to the US Supreme Court for an extension on the submission of its impending petition for a review by the court in the long-running Florida sports betting case.

In November 2021, West Flagler successfully challenged the validity of the Seminole Tribe’s compact with the state of Florida in the courts, leading to the closure of the Hard Rock Digital sportsbook just weeks after its launch.

An appeal and protracted legal case followed, with the challenge ultimately moving from Florida’s courts to the DC Court of Appeals.

In June, the DC Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Seminole Tribe, a ruling which allowed for the relaunch of the sportsbook, and a ruling that has subsequently been the subject of repeated legal challenges by West Flagler in both the US Supreme Court and Florida’s Supreme Court.

West Flagler had been expected to submit its petition for a writ of certiorari to the US Supreme Court by December 11, having initially seen an application to stay implementation of a DC Court of Appeals ruling granting Hard Rock Digital legal precedent to relaunch its sportsbook denied by the DC Court in September.

In October, West Flagler petitioned for a stay of the DC ruling in the US Supreme Court, following its earlier denial, only to be rejected by the US Supreme Court later that month.

In its latest seven-page application, West Flagler has asked the US Supreme Court to extend this deadline into 2024, with a petition submitted no later than February 9.

The application comes less than 24-hours after the Florida Supreme Court denied an attempt by West Flagler and the Bonita Fort Myers Corporation 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.

This ruling, if granted, would have forced the closure of the Hard Rock Digital sportsbook for a second time, with the tribe only relaunching on November 7. However, the court refused to do so.

Central to the West Flagler arguments for an extension is the concurrent case in the Florida Supreme Court, where the parimutuel operator is challenging whether state officials acted unconstitutionally in approving the 30-year gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe in May 2021.

In its application, West Flagler suggests that any ruling by the Florida Supreme Court will ultimately have a bearing on its petition for a writ of certiorari in the case in the US Supreme Court.

“If the Florida Supreme Court denies or fails to rule in Applicant’s favor, the important statutory and constitutional issues raised by the Circuit Opinion would certainly remain, including the ‘serious equal protection issues’ observed by Justice Kavanaugh,” West Flagler Associates’ application states.

“The Florida Supreme Court’s resolution of the state petition may be relevant to whether the reasoning of the Circuit Opinion is accepted, or whether instead the Applicants are caught in an absurd trap between two judicial systems saying inconsistent things about the nature of this compact,” it adds.

At present, the Florida Supreme Court case is currently awaiting the responses of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Senate president Kathleen Passidomo and House Speaker Paul Renner to the initial request for a review of the decision-making behind the approval of the compact.

The trio, acting via the Florida Solicitor General’s office, successfully petitioned for their own extension on response submission to December 1, citing a significant workload for the office.