WASHINGTON (CN) — Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily paused an appeals court ruling allowing tribes in Florida to operate online sports betting in the state.
Casino owners in the state filed an emergency application asking the high court to block the ruling. Roberts’ temporary pause will stay in place until the high court takes further action.
In 2018, Florida amended its constitution to prohibit all forms of casino gambling, making sports betting illegal in the state. That amendment, however, contained stipulations for tribal lands under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
Governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis came to a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida in 2021, agreeing to allow the tribe to offer online sports betting in the state if the bets were received by servers on their land.
According to the casino owners, this exception has created a monopoly for the tribe, allowing only them to offer sports gaming in the state of Florida.
West Flagler Association and Bonita-Fort Myers Corporation sued the state, claiming the approval of the deal was unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act. A lower court agreed, striking down the agreement.
The D.C. Circuit then reversed. Unanimously rejecting the groups’ arguments, the three-judge panel found the lower court read too much into the agreement. While the district court said the deal allowed betting outside of the tribe's land, the appeals court said it did not.
“The district court erred by reading into the compact a legal effect it does not (and cannot) have, namely, independently authorizing betting by patrons located outside of the tribe’s lands,” U.S. Circuit Judge Robert Wilkins, a Barack Obama appointee, wrote in the court's opinion. “Rather, the compact itself authorizes only the betting that occurs on the tribe’s lands; in this respect it satisfied the IGRA.”
West Flagler asked the high court for emergency intervention to block the D.C. Circuit ruling. The casino owners said without a stay, millions of sports bets would be placed in violation of state and federal law.
“Unless the mandate is stayed, the circuit opinion will upset the status quo in Florida by permitting the tribe to conduct online sports gaming throughout the state, even though the Florida Constitution prohibits any such gaming absent a citizens’ initiative, and UIGEA prohibits use of the internet to transmit payments between a jurisdiction where gambling is illegal (Florida) and one where it is legal (the tribe’s land),” Hamish Hume, an attorney with Boies Schiller representing the organizations, wrote.
The owners claimed the high court will likely review the questions presented by their challenge, and urged the justices to pause the matter because once sports betting is allowed, it will be hard to stop.
“Certiorari is also likely to be granted because the circuit opinion raises an issue of national importance regarding the constitutionality of granting an Indian tribe a statewide monopoly over sports betting, while making the same conduct a felony for everyone else,” Hume wrote.
Roberts requested a response from the state and tribes due Oct. 18.
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