The Seminole Tribe of Florida recently ceased making its quarterly $500 million revenue sharing payments to the state, part of the 2021 gaming compact. That agreement was approved by the Florida legislature but was invalidated by U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich in November. The tribe appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit but a decision is not expected in the near future, and observers said whichever side loses the appeal will take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Tribal spokesman Gary Bitner said the tribe will stop the payments while the legal process plays out. Under the new compact, the Seminoles would have paid $500 million per quarter but that amount was decreased to $350 million following the lower court ruling.
That agreement gave the tribe exclusive rights to offer retail and online sports betting. As part of the arrangement, the tribe would have partnered with parimutuel operators to create a hub-and-spoke network of kiosks in participating businesses, with the main processor located on the Seminole reservation.
However, Magic City Casino and the Bonita Springs Poker Room filed suit in Washington, D.C., claiming the compact’s online sports betting provisions violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act since the law doesn’t allow tribes to operate gaming off their lands. The lawsuit also challenged the Department of the Interior’s approval of the compact.
The Seminoles began offering mobile betting through its Hard Rock Sportsbook on November 1, three weeks before Friedrich issued her order invalidating the entire amended compact. The tribe unsuccessfully tried to get a stay on Friedrich’s order, but it shut down its sports betting app in early December.
The new compact also would have allowed the Seminoles to offer dice games and roulette, and to build three additional facilities within its Hollywood Reservation, a 500-acre area located 20 miles north of Miami.
In exchange for the additional gaming rights, the tribe agreed to make revenue sharing payments to the state. The compact specified paying the state a minimum of $2.5 billion over the first five years and no less than $400 million in any year during that period. The state expected to receive $6 billion over the first decade.
However, the payments are on hold until the litigation is resolved. Meanwhile, Bitner said, the tribe is making revenue sharing payments into an escrow account.
