In his order, Mr Roberts appointed a lawyer from the Interior Department until October 18 to respond to requests for extended stays. Lawyers representing the owners of Miami’s Magic City Casino and Bonita Springs Poker Room are asking for a moratorium while they ask the Supreme Court to consider the legal dispute.
In June, a federal appeals court concluded that a lower court judge had wrongly blocked the agreement and said the dispute between Florida and the tribe should be fought in state court. In September, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied the request for a new trial.
Florida’s gaming agreement with the tribe was approved by the Republican-led Legislature in May 2021 and subsequently signed by Governor Ron DeSantis. This compact facility not only allows sports betting, but also allows the Tribe to add craps and roulette to its current casino and build an additional casino on the Tribe’s Hollywood Reservation, which is already home to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Approved. Shortly after the deal was approved, the Seminoles began offering sports betting through their mobile app.
However, in late 2021, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich of the District of Columbia ruled that the agreement allowed sports betting to take place anywhere in the state and violated federal law regulating gambling on Native American lands. Therefore, it concluded that the agreement was illegal. The lawsuit was filed against U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland after her agency failed to block the deal.
Friedrich also ruled that sports betting can only be allowed on non-tribal lands in Florida through citizen initiative. Voters in 2018 approved an amendment sponsored by the Seminole Tribe and Disney that would require voters to approve any future expansion of casino gambling.
The Seminoles suspended use of the mobile betting app shortly after the ruling, but have not taken steps to reinstate it after the appeals court rejected Friedrich’s argument. This means that sports betting will be suspended in Florida during the 2023 NFL and college football seasons, which are usually a busy time for betting.