The holes are closing around the effort by West Flagler Associates and Bonita-Fort Myers Corp. to find something to disqualify the Seminole Tribe in its quest to monopolize sports betting in Florida.
The tribe filed an amicus brief to make known its beliefs before the state Supreme Court that the sports betting method that says as long as the bet is finalized on tribal land—routed through servers—it does not violate the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which oversees tribal gambling.
And furthermore, the objection to adding sports betting without a constitutional amendment does not bring Amendment 3 into play. Amendment 3 speaks about casino gaming and sports betting is not casino gaming as the amendment views it, according to Florida Phoenix.
And for those reasons, the Supreme Court needs to step on this lawsuit once and for all, the brief said, in support of the DeSantis administration, and the legislature’s approval of the router-based hub-and-spoke system.
If and when the court challenges finally disappear, the state’s take of the compact could reach $2.5 billion over the first five years.
The U.S. Supreme Court still has an opening to hear what the final arguments of the parimutuels could be. They expect to ask the court to review an appellate court ruling that upheld a U.S. Department of the Interior decision to allow the compact to move forward.
In addition, the brief filed by Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office on behalf of the DeSantis administration argues the West Flagler/Bonita case is not properly before the Florida Supreme Court in part because they waited 2 1/2 years to file, until they’d lost in federal court.
If all this is clear—and to the Seminoles it is—the tribe has moved ahead with sports betting and adding craps and roulette to their casinos.
Let’s talk money. The relaunch of sports betting and the introduction of craps and roulette into Seminole-owned casinos has made everything whole for the moment. The tribe has its monopoly intact and it’s time for resumption of the payments to the state of Florida as negotiated in the compact.
The tribe anticipates making a $650 million payment for the next year, part of the negotiated compact with the administration.
“The compact is now back in full force, and the tribe is abiding with the full terms of the compact,” Jim Allen, CEO of Seminole Gaming and chairman of Hard Rock International, told Pechanga.net in Tampa. “It’s certainly our intention to comply with the compact in our relationship with the state.”
Allen did not specify when the tribe would begin making payments or how much the first payment would be, saying they would be made pursuant to the terms of the compact.
Under the three-decade deal, signed by Governor Ron DeSantis and Seminole Tribe of Florida Chairman Marcellus Osceola Jr. and ratified by the legislature, the Seminoles agreed to pay Florida about $20 billion, including $2.5 billion over the first five years of the agreement. The amount would dip by $50 million a year if sports betting isn’t in effect, essentially guaranteeing the state an annual minimum payment of $450 million.
Almost as a consolation prize for agreeing with the scope of the brief, the compact “requires the tribe to contract with all requesting and qualified pari-mutuels, allowing them to participate by marketing the tribe’s sportsbook in exchange for up to 60 percent of the Seminole’s associated profit.”
Allen said the tribe has made an effort to work with all of the state’s 32 pari-mutuel operators.
“We’re actively working with 16 of them. I believe we just launched five of them today,” he said.
The tribe on November 7 began accepting mobile sports bets from a limited number of gamblers and went statewide a month later. The Seminoles launched the new table games and sports books with blowouts at their South Florida and Tampa locations.
The ceremony was “truly beautiful,” Allen told Pechanga, “because it’s obviously the birthplace of Native American gaming. So I think to be in that building where it all started, it was just a perfect way to launch.”
The court battles, however, aren’t over. The two parimutuel companies await the inevitable from Florida and the U.S. Supreme Courts.
The Seminoles first entered into a compact with then-Governor Charlie Crist in 2007. But Republican legislators challenged the deal in court, arguing that it required ratification by lawmakers. The Florida Supreme Court sided with the lawmakers, resulting in a revised compact that allowed the Seminoles to operate slot machines, which were already permitted at parimutuel facilities in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, and gave the tribe “exclusive” rights to conduct banked card games such as blackjack and baccarat.
But the Seminoles halted payments to the state of more than $350 million a year because of a drawn-out dispute over controversial “designated player” card games offered at many pari-mutuels. The tribe ceased the annual payments after a series of court rulings.
With the Seminole Tribe almost concluding vanquishing the two pari-mutuel sports betting opponents, a Florida lawmaker wants to take up fantasy sports, the kid brother of sports betting.
Rep. Jason Shoaf introduced HB 679, which takes a step towards legalizing some elements considered flagrantly illegal: Pick’em games, according to Sports Handle. Shoaf has gone in the opposite direction of other states like Michigan and New York which cracked down on Pick’em, which involves more than a single player.
Shoaf is going the legal route months after the state sent some companies a cease and desist letter for offering these games. Companies would need to be legalized by July 1. The bill must consider the “statistical results of the performance” when you’re talking about more than one player.
The text also specifies, “All winning outcomes [must] reflect the relative knowledge and skill of the fantasy sports contest participant,” and contest prizes and awards must be “disclosed” before a contest begins.
The bill would outlaw college and high school players or on scores, point spreads or team performances.
In addition, the games must not include graphics, language or depictions of traditional casino games such as slot machines, cards, dice, craps, etc.
