US Supreme Court refuses to take up challenge to Florida's online sports betting compact
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to take up a challenge to an agreement that gave the Seminole Tribe exclusive rights to handle online sports betting in Florida, dealing a blow to the deal’s opponents
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to take up a challenge to an agreement that gave the Seminole Tribe exclusive rights to handle online sports betting in Florida, dealing a blow to the deal's opponents.
The nation's highest court denied a petition from opponents of the compact, which promises to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars for the tribe and the state.
The decision was the latest setback for West Flagler Associates and the Bonita-Fort Myers Corp., which operate racetracks and poker rooms in Florida. In March, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the companies had filed the wrong type of petition to challenge the 2021 compact between the Seminole Tribe of Florida and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration.
“What’s important with today’s announcement is that the most significant barrier to online sports betting in Florida has been removed,” said Daniel Wallach, a South Florida attorney and sports betting law expert who had filed a brief asking the Supreme Court to either take up the case or reverse it outright.
The companies say the compact gives the tribe a sports betting monopoly in the nation's third-most populous state and that the U.S. Department of Interior wrongly approved the compact even though it violates the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which requires that gambling occur on tribal lands.
The plaintiffs questioned whether online sports bets that can be placed from anywhere in Florida could be considered to be on tribal land when only the computer servers that host the
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