Florida Stay in Sports Betting Case Denied: Hard Rock Site Could Go Live Any Day

Per Steve Bittenbender: "The US Supreme Court has denied the application for a stay requested by West Flagler and Bonita-Fort Myers Corp. and now the temporary stay issued last week by Chief Justice John Roberts has been vacated."

"US District Judge Dabney Friedrich received the Circuit Court of Appeals Mandate earlier this month and entered an order of judgment for the Interior Department on Oct. 10. So, that would indicate the compact is back to being recognized."

From Geoff Zochodne of Covers.com: "The appeals-court decision essentially reinstated a gaming compact between the Hard Rock-owning Seminole Tribe and the State of Florida that included online sports betting."

This means we could see the launch of the Seminole Hard Rock sportsbook coming soon. 

A wrench perhaps?

Lawyer Steve Vladeck: "#SCOTUS won’t block the federal government’s approval of Florida’s compact with the Seminole Tribe to allow for online gaming and sports-betting—but Justice Kavanaugh writes separately to flag other potential issues w/ the deal (that’s currently being challenged in state court)."

JUSTICE KAVANAUGH: "If the compact authorized the Tribe to conduct off-reservation gaming operations, either directly or by deeming off-reservation gaming operations to somehow be on-reservation, then the compact would likely violate the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act."

Recent court rulings have overturned U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich November 2021 ruling against the compact, calling the sports-betting plan a “fiction” and invalidating other parts of the agreement. A panel of the appeals court on June 30 reversed Friedrich's ruling, and the full appeals court in September refused to reconsider the challenge.

Politico's Gary Fineout suggests this latest decision is unlikely to end the legal battle, since the two Florida casinos challenging the gambling deal had previously said they intended to pursue a full-blown appeal before the high court. There is also a case pending before the state Supreme Court.

- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher