Florida rivals ask courts to stop online sports gambling off tribal lands

livemint.com:

online wagers on the outcome of sporting events legally on tribal land, when really only the computer servers are located there, accepting bets made using mobile phones and computers from anywhere in Florida? That's a question two of the tribe's gaming competitors are hoping the U.S. Supreme Court will take up soon and answer with a definitive “no." A decision by the nation's highest court would be of “massive importance" for the future of online gaming across the U.S., since leaving in place an appellate ruling in the tribe's favor would set a precedent for other end-runs around state prohibitions against gaming off tribal lands, said the firms, West Flagler Associates and Bonita-Fort Myers Corporation, which operate racetracks and poker rooms in Florida.

The companies sued Deb Haaland, secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior, which oversees tribal gambling.

The U.S. Supreme Court accepts a tiny percentage of such petitions each year.

The two pari-mutuel firms say the compact signed by the governor and the tribe in 2021 gives the tribe a sports gambling monopoly and creates a “backdoor" way out of the state's requirement, passed by voters in 2018 as an amendment to the Florida Constitution, that a citizens initiative is needed to expand casino gambling outside tribal land. “Through this artifice, the Compact transparently attempts to get around the Florida Constitution," the firms' attorneys said.

“The whole point of the Compact is to provide a hook for dodging Florida’s constitutional requirement of a popular referendum to approve off-reservation sports betting." A lot of money is at stake. The tribe launched its online sports betting operation late last year, and Florida's share of 2024 revenues is already more