Court Rules on Mega-Gambling Deal. Big Change Coming to Florida

Photo byGage Skidmore

Governor Ron DeSantis and the Seminole Tribe of Florida achieved a legal triumph after an appeals court declined to halt a $2.5 billion gambling agreement between the state and the Seminole Tribe.

The three-member bench based in Washington concluded that a lower court judge improperly halted the contract. It mandated that any legal challenges to the agreement between Florida and the Seminole Tribe should be brought in state courts.

The Seminole Tribe applauded the ruling but did not indicate if it would reinstate sports betting in the third-largest state in the country as a result.

Due to the litigation, the Tribe stopped accepting bets on its mobile app in December 2021.

Is sports betting coming back to Florida?

“It is a positive outcome for the Seminole Tribe and the people of Florida and all of Indian Country. The Tribe is fully reviewing the decision to determine its next steps,” according to the spokesperson for the Tribe, Gary Bitner.

DeSantis spokesperson Jason Mahon lauded the choice as well.

“While we are not surprised the lower court’s perplexing ruling was unanimously overturned, this is great news for Florida,” Mahon said.

Lawyer Hamish Hume for the casinos who had objected to the deal said that the court had "recognized" that federal gambling regulations "cannot authorize gambling off of Indian lands, but then upheld a compact that purports on its face to do exactly that."

The gambling agreement, which DeSantis had to personally lobby state lawmakers to approve in May 2021, not only allowed for sports betting but also allowed the Tribe to add craps and roulette to its current casinos and construct additional casinos on the Tribe's Hollywood reservation, which is already home to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, as well.

Do you want more gambling in the Sunshine State?

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