The Seminole Tribe of Florida’s Hard Rock Sportsbook briefly held the state’s monopoly for sports betting, under the compact it negotiated with Governor Ron DeSantis. The compact also allowed the tribe to add craps and roulette to its existing casino operations and granted the tribe the option to add three casinos on its property in Broward County. In exchange, the Seminoles pledged to pay the state at least $2.5 billion over the first five years.
But on November 22, Federal Judge Dabney L. Friedrich of the United States District Court invalidated the compact, citing the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Friedrich stated the proposed “hub-and-spoke” sports betting platform, which would process bets from gamblers statewide through computer servers on tribal property, was a “fiction.” The Seminoles appealed the federal judge’s ruling, and closed the Hard Rock Sportsbook platform.
Recently, DeSantis stated Friedrich’s decision to vacate the entire compact was unexpected. “We understood that that would be something that would be challenged, although I will tell you, we were not anticipating it to be a challenge under federal Indian gaming law. We thought the challenge would come under Amendment 3,” which requires voters, not lawmakers, to approve any gambling expansion. “But at a minimum, the compact was clearly negotiated with the understanding that the hub-and-spoke could be something that would run into trouble at some point and so was structured in a way to allow the compact to go forward.”
DeSantis continued, “You do not throw out the entire compact over this one issue. I think we’ll win on this issue eventually. So we’ll do what we need to do.”
Meanwhile, an initiative called the Florida Education Champions, funded with more than $37 million from DraftKings and FanDuel, is moving forward toward the 2022 ballot. It would make several sports betting licenses in Florida available to national sportsbooks, allowing online and in-person sports betting.
If supporters gather enough signatures to place the issue on the ballot and if voters pass the constitutional amendment, the legislature would then adopt legislation to implement licensure and regulation policies. Sports betting would launch in 2023, with revenue going to the Educational Enhancement Trust Fund of the Department of Education.
As of December 29, the Florida Division of Elections reported 240,000 petition signatures had been collected. The campaign needs 891,589 by February 1 for the initiative to appear on the 2022 ballot. Spokeswoman Christina Johnson said, “We are confident we will have enough signatures” to meet that deadline.
The Seminole Tribe has invested $20 million so far in an attempt to derail Florida Education Champions’ petition drives, in a multimedia campaign stating, “Don’t Sign the Gambling Petitions.”
Against these unresolved issues, DeSantis recently announced the first three members of the new five-member Gaming Control Commission that will take effect July 1, 2022. Named to the panel were: Department of Business and Professional Regulation Secretary Julie Imanuel Brown, who was named chairwoman of the commission; Office of Insurance Regulation Chief of Staff Michael Yaworksy; and former law enforcement officer Charles Drago. Each is subject to state Senate approval.
The commission will oversee tribal gaming compacts, parimutuel operators, cardrooms, slot parlors and other forms of gaming allowed by the state constitution, excluding the Florida Lottery.
