Florida tribal lawsuit kicks up a gear as operators seek quick resolution
Magic City Casino and Bonita Springs Poker Room cite lack of ambiguity in IGRA and claim state governors have acted unlawfully
The bitter war of words over Florida’s new tribal gaming compact ramped up a notch this week after the Magic City Casino and Bonita Springs Poker Room asked for a summary judgment in the case.
Parent companies West Flagler Associates Ltd. and Bonita-Fort Myers Corp, which run Magic City and Bonita Springs respectively, called for an accelerated end to the case ahead of the anticipated launch of online gaming in the Sunshine State on November 15.
The lawsuit, first launched in July, names Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation secretary Julie Brown as principal defendants, and asks for judges to revoke the compact’s clauses allowing off-reservation sports betting.
The operators have argued that the compact violates the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) by allowing online sports betting outside of Indian land and that the state has exceeded its regulatory authority in doing so.
In addition, the pair argue the compact violates both the Wire Act (1961) and the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), due to widespread sports betting currently being illegal in Florida.
Under the compact, competing operators can enter the state’s sports betting market but must operate as skins under technology provided by the Seminole Tribe of Florida and its gaming partner Hard Rock Digital.
Any operator using the Seminole platform is required to pay 40% of its revenue to the tribe – a potential deterrent for prospective operators.
Transactions would go through servers located on tribal land in a so-called “hub and spoke” model, something which bypasses both federal and state law, which both deem sports betting illegal in Florida.
“Compacts that purport to authorize gaming in circumstances in which IGRA does not apply are, by definition, inconsistent with IGRA,” the motion to accelerate summary judgment states.
“IGRA is designed to provide a statutory framework for gaming on Indian lands, not off Indian lands. No ambiguity exists here, the plain meaning is clear.
“Gambling must occur “on Indian lands.” It is undisputed that the Implementing Law allows a patron to bet online even when miles away from the Tribe’s land.
“The Implementing Law must “deem” it to be occurring on the Tribe’s land for it to be on Indian land—because it is not. “No amount of “deeming” can magically transport a patron sitting at her home into the Tribe’s casinos,” it continues.
“A state governor and legislature do not have the legal power to “deem” facts to be different than they are; nor do they have the legal power to override federal law. The definition of “Indian lands” and the boundaries of “gaming on Indian lands” are set by federal statute.
“The hovernor cannot contract those definitions away or act as if they did not exist, especially when the Implementing Law cannot otherwise legalize Class III gaming absent passage of a citizen-sponsored constitutional amendment,” the argument adds.
Florida authorities have previously attempted to force the lawsuit’s dismissal on state immunity grounds, while their counterparts in the Seminole Tribe also unsuccessfully argued for its dismissal on the grounds that they were a “necessary and indispensable” party that could not be excluded.
The lawsuit is one of two attempts to wrest control of sports betting in Florida away from the Seminole Tribe and was seemingly derailed when the US Department of the Interior gave its ascent to the new compact in August.
A separate effort, backed by DraftKings and FanDuel, seeks to expand sports betting beyond the Seminole Tribe via a constitutional amendment.
Florida Education Champions (FEC), a Florida-based not-for-profit and political action committee (PAC), serves as the main lobbying body for the initiative.
It includes provisos to allow exclusive access to operators which have been authorized to conduct online sports betting in at least 10 states for one year, as well as Native American tribes who already have a gaming compact with the state.
Operators meeting this criterion would then face an eight-month delay before they can begin operating in Florida. According to filings with state authorities, the two US operators (DraftKings and FanDuel) have each contributed more than $10m to fund its success.
However, the expansion initiative must first win the approval of 60% of Florida voters in a potential November 2022 ballot.