The Florida Legislature’s Office of Economic & Demographic Research put an optimistic view of how much money the state can expect from the Seminole Tribe thanks to the 2021 Compact becoming operable.
How does $4.43 billion sound through the 2028-2029 fiscal year? The predicted revenue includes sports betting, and craps and roulette games at tribal casinos.
The deal has faced state and federal court challenges, but the tribe moved forward in late 2023 with sports betting and the additional casino games, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
The Seminoles already made payments of $57.8 million in January and $62.2 million in February, and for the fiscal year the state should see $343.9 million. For the 2024-25 fiscal year, the figures should grow to $749.3 million and so forth rising to $889.6 million in fiscal year 2028-29.
Of course, all this assumes that the two possible court cases before the state and the U.S. Supreme Court are tossed out. The report does leave open the slight possibility that the parimutuels behind the legal machinations succeed.
Then all bets are off.
While predictions of financial windfalls make for happy tribes, the legal battles wind down between West Flagler and Associates and the Seminole Tribe, the U.S. Department of the Interior is concluding its task of codifying what is and is not acceptable among tribal sports betting. And unless the courts say otherwise, tribes recognized by the federal government may indeed accept wagers not within Indian land with certain provisos.
The department worked on these definitions for over a year including the section that said it was okay for online sports wagers to occur in non-tribal areas so long as the electronics intersect with tribal servers. And the activity meets the standards spelled out with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The draft of the regs rolled out in February by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
For those unaware, sports betting is an example of Class III gaming, which means tribes can work with the state and the details memorialized in the compact specific to the particular tribe. The Seminole case also covers house-banked card games such as blackjack, craps, roulette and more. The rule, if applied to California online sports betting, can be played miles from Indian country so long as the tribal server is part of the conduit.
It also means the Seminoles might still be out of bounds.
In the state case, WFA has sued Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida legislature for authorizing exclusivity in sports betting without adding Amendment 3, a referendum required by law.
The draft final regulations “say that compacts like the one reached between the Seminole Tribe and Florida are lawful under IGRA, but still need to be lawful in the state,” one lawyer who specializes in tribal gaming law and spoke on background told Sports Handle. “But if state law doesn’t allow [gaming], then it is not legal.”
“Through IGRA, Congress diminished Tribal sovereignty by requiring tribes to enter into compacts with states governing the Tribes’ conduct of Class III gaming before Tribes may conduct casino-style or Class III gaming,” wrote DOI assistant secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland. “However, states have often sought to include provisions in compacts which test the limits Congress provided in IGRA.”
The rules take effect March 22.
Wagering from an off-reservation location depends a lot on the appellate opinion last June which says betting from one tribal property to another is okay if both tribes agree.
Any changes that evolve from these new regulations have no impact on existing regs, only future ones.
