Despite legal challenges, the Seminole Tribe of Florida is moving ahead with the legalization of sports betting under a compact negotiated with the administration of Governor Ron DeSantis. Part of the deal is that the tribe was required to negotiate an agreement with the state’s parimutuels allowing them to market sports betting and turn over 60 percent of the profits to the tribe.
Last week, the tribe announced an agreement with five Florida parimutuels, who will be able to participate in the state sports betting regime. The tribe said it has reached agreements with the Palm Beach Kennel Club; Hialeah Park Casino; Ocala Gainesville Poker and Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.; Tampa Bay Downs; and TGT Poker & Racebook in Tampa.
The agreements, however, leave out some significant potential partners, most glaringly the two parimutuels that filed suits challenging the compact. Magic City Casino in Miami-Dade County and Bonita Springs Poker Room in southwest Florida had filed a federal lawsuit that claims the compact violates federal law, which was denied by a judge in Washington D.C. who said the plaintiffs had no standing because they had not shown their businesses would be harmed
Also absent are some of the major racetrack casinos in South Florida, including the Caesars-owned Isle of Capri casino at Pompano Park, and the Casino @ Dania Beach.
In the Magic City lawsuit, the plaintiffs claimed major damages to their business..
“The 2021 compact will significantly harm plaintiffs’ businesses by introducing online gaming into Florida and granting the tribe the exclusive right to engage in it,” the lawsuit said. “As a result, anyone physically located in Florida, including plaintiffs’ customers, will be able to engage in sports betting online with the tribe from their home or from any Florida location where they have access to an internet connection. This approval will therefore have a significant and potentially devastating competitive impact on plaintiffs and the brick-and-mortar businesses who depend for their profits on individuals coming into their businesses to engage in gaming activities.”
Jim Allen, the CEO of Seminole Gaming and Hard Rock International, disagrees.
“Today’s announcement follows through on the tribe’s commitment to include pari-mutuel marketing partners in Florida sports betting,” Allen said in a statement. “They are an important component for the coming launch of sports betting throughout the state of Florida.”
At the same time, the Seminoles wrote a check for the first payment under the compact to Florida for $37 million.
“Not only will this compact bring a guaranteed $2.5 billion in revenue over the next five years, but it also brings together Florida parimutuel businesses from across the state in a creative partnership with the Seminole Tribe providing increased access to safe and transparent sports betting in Florida,” DeSantis said.
Nonetheless, the tribe’s monopoly over sports betting in the state is far from a sure thing, in spite of the compact.
The compact negotiated grants the Seminoles exclusive rights to sports wagering in exchange for giving the state $2.5 billion in sports betting revenue over the first five years. And although sports wagering has been legal since October 15, no bets have been placed and the Seminoles have not announced a launch date.
That’s because of challenges on several fronts. One involves a federal lawsuit that will be heard in Washington, D.C. on November 5. The suit claims the compact violates federal laws by illegally authorizing off-reservation sports wagering; specifically, the compact allows statewide sports wagering with bets processed through servers on Seminole land.
Among the parties in the federal lawsuit is No Casinos, the group behind Amendment 3, which gives voters the final say on expanded gambling in Florida. No Casinos President John Sowinski said the compact should be nullified, and he expects the judge to rule against it.
“It gives the tribe forms of gambling that are illegal otherwise within the state so, this is in defiance of federal law, number one. Two, it’s in defiance of Florida’s constitution that gives voters a final say.” Sowinski said he’s confident the Seminoles’ grip on sports betting will be rejected. “I think it’s pretty uphill because more voters are turned off than turned on by it,” he stated.
On another front, DraftKings and FanDuel have invested $10 million each in the Florida Education Champions, a political organization that’s working to gather nearly 900,000 signatures by February 2022 to get a sports betting amendment on the November 2022 ballot. The amendment would allow any legal sports betting platform to offer sports betting. It also would require any sports wagering revenue to go to the Florida Educational Enhancement Trust Fund.
Florida Education Champions spokesperson Christina Johnson said, “We believe the Seminoles should not have a monopoly on the online gaming that is now available in Florida. We have about 250,000 petitions that are out there right now at various local supervisors and elections offices waiting to get validated.” She added the amendment could “generate hundreds of millions of dollars towards education.”
The Seminole Tribe is fighting back with an expansive, $10 million advertising campaign telling Floridians to protest citizen initiatives that would expand gaming beyond tribal lands. “Don’t sign the gambling petitions,” the ads state.
