Interior Secretary Deb Haaland was wrong when she allowed the deal to go into effect in summer 2021. District Judge Dabney Friedrich ruled that the plan ran afoul of the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act which regulates gambling on tribal lands, because it would allow gambling off property owned by the Seminoles.įriedrich, calling the setup a “fiction,” also invalidated other parts of the compact, finding that U.S. The deal, known as a compact, said bets “using a mobile app or other electronic device, shall be deemed to be exclusively conducted by the tribe.” The “hub-and-spoke” sports-betting plan was designed to allow gamblers anywhere in the state to place bets online, with the bets run through computer servers on tribal property. Owners of Magic City Casino in Miami-Dade County and Bonita Springs Poker Room in Southwest Florida filed a lawsuit alleging the sports-betting plan violated federal laws and would cause a “significant and potentially devastating” impact on the pari-mutuels’ businesses.
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