Government, Sports

Judgment Day Is Coming For Hard Rock Sportsbook In Florida

The Department of the Interior is claiming that it did not authorize persons in Florida to place wagers off of the Seminole Tribe's lands but, instead, state law authorized it.

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As of this moment, individuals in Florida can place bets on sporting events from the comfort of their homes through the newly introduced Hard Rock Sportsbook mobile application. If West Flagler Associates, Ltd. (doing business as Magic City Casino) and Bonita-Fort Myers Corporation (doing business as Bonita Springs Poker Room) have their way, that mobile application will have a very short shelf life.

They are suing the Department of the Interior and Deb Haaland, in her official capacity as Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, based on allegations that a Tribal-State Compact between Florida and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, which led to the creation and distribution of the aforementioned mobile application, violates federal laws. The plaintiffs argue that the compact should never have been approved due to violations of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, and the Wire Act of 1961.

The crux of the plaintiffs’ case rests on an argument that the compact authorizes online sports betting that occurs outside of the Seminole Tribe’s Indian lands. The defendants do not dispute that the location of the bettor determines where the bet is placed. However, they contend that there has been no violation of the relevant federal laws by way of permitting individuals in Florida, outside of Seminole Tribe lands, to place wagers through their mobile phones.

In a November 10 filing, the defendants argue that when the compact was presented to Haaland, she was not given the option to authorize whether individuals in Florida could place wagers on sporting events when they are physically located outside of the Seminole Tribe’s lands. Instead, they claim that the state law ratifying the compact already accomplished that goal. Thus, Haaland was only tasked with approving or taking no action on the compact after the gaming activity was already deemed by the Seminole Tribe and by Florida to occur on Indian lands for regulatory purposes.

Basically, the Department of the Interior is claiming that it did not authorize persons in Florida to place wagers off of the Seminole Tribe’s lands but, instead, state law authorized it. It is essentially seeking to defer to the state, which has held that sports wagers placed off of the Seminole Tribe’s Indian lands are deemed to take place exclusively where those bets are received at the location of the servers or other devices used to conduct such wagering activity at a facility on Indian lands.

The defendants’ argument will win or die with the federal judge based on whether Florida and the Seminole Tribe are free to agree, for state law purposes, as well as for regulatory purposes under the compact, that the sports wagers are deemed to occur on the Seminole Tribe’s lands. The judge is expected to make a decision on whether to temporarily halt the compact and thus restrict action on the Hard Rock Sportsbook mobile application in Florida by November 15.

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Darren Heitner is the founder of Heitner Legal. He is the author of How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know, published by the American Bar Association, and is an adjunct professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @DarrenHeitner.

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