Magic City Casino owners sue federal government to block sports betting in Florida

Two Florida pari-mutuels filed a new motion in federal district court in Washington late Tuesday, asking a judge to block implementation of online sports betting under the Florida tribal gaming compact which is scheduled to begin later this year.

The motion, filed by Magic City Casino and Bonita Springs Poker Room against U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, asks a court to enjoin the sports-betting portion of the state’s compact with the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The compact

gives the tribe a monopoly over sports betting in the state by allowing wagers to go through an internet server on tribal land.

The plaintiffs allege that although the Department of the Interior allowed the compact to take effect, the court should reverse that decision and block implementation until a legal sports-betting compact is established for Florida.

Under the deal signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and approved by the Florida Legislature, anyone in Florida over age 21 can start placing and collecting online wagers on sporting events “via the internet [or] web application” from anywhere in Florida beginning on Oct. 15. All transactions would go through servers located on tribal land in a “hub and spoke” model intended to bypass both federal and state law, which both deem sports betting in Florida illegal unless authorized in state law.

Although the Florida statute sets an Oct. 15 start date for tribal sports betting, a footnote in the lawsuit states that “representatives of the Tribe have informed Plaintiffs that the Tribe will not implement online sports betting until November 15, 2021.”

Read more at  https://www.bradenton.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article254437023.html