After multiple years of legal challenges, Florida’s Seminole Tribe Oct. 28 announced a new partnership with West Flagler and Associates. The two will promote jai alai on the tribe’s Hard Rock Bet app, reports iGB.
The announcement came four months after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the West Flagler case against the U.S. Department of Justice. That decision allowed an appellate court decision to stand. At its heart, the ruling made it legal for the Seminoles to offer digital sports betting anywhere within Florida.
West Flagler and the Seminoles agreed to “refrain from engaging in any future litigation with respect to the Seminole tribe’s gaming operations,” according to a release. The announcement is a stunning reversal for the two sides. West Flagler, owners of two Florida parimutuels, spent three years and untold dollars in federal and state court battles in an attempt to declare the 2021 Seminole-Florida compact invalid.
“As I said when this litigation first started, West Flagler had no chance to prevail,” NOVA Southeastern constitutional law professor Bob Jarvis told iGB. “Nevertheless, it fought against the Seminoles in both federal and state courtrooms in both Florida and the District of Columbia (including the US Supreme Court), to no avail.
“One wonders why West Flagler was so pig-headed, what advice it received from its attorneys and whether it now regrets its decision to spend so much money on a quest that could not possibly succeed.”
