Feature: Seminole Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
Off the reservation F
A precedent-breaking Seminole sports betting contract is too much for the court to stomach. By David McKee
lorida’s Seminole Tribe and Gov. Ron DeSantis gambled heavily—and lost—on
a new tribal compact, one that included an incendiary provision for online sports betting. The compact allowed Internet-based wagering, including for private-sector casinos— provided that it was run through servers on Seminole reservations. In addition, any non-tribal gambling hall had to pay the Seminoles a 40 percent rake of the proceeds of online sports betting. This compact leaned predominantly on the assumption that a cyber-bet placed anywhere in the Sunshine State would qualify thusly as “tribal gaming,” effectively extending the Seminole reservations throughout Florida’s ether. The compact contained other, generous provisions for the Seminoles, including the right to build three new resort-casinos in Hollywood, Florida, and to offer craps and roulette for the first time (provided that the tribe turned a blind eye to off-reservation blackjack, a longtime sore point). Volume 17: Issue 147
Perhaps dazzled by the $6 billion payday promised over the 10-year life of the compact and by having
succeeded in two years where predecessor Rick Scott had failed in eight, DeSantis ignored the state constitution’s Amendment 3, which specifies that any new form of gambling in the state must be approved by popular vote. That riled up opponents of the compact but not nearly as much as the sports-betting provision did. In a David vs. Goliath scenario, Magic City Casino and Bonita Springs Poker Room took on the U.S. Department of the Interior over its approval of the compact. Actually, the Interior Department did not actively approve the compact but simply let the 45-day review period pass without action, perhaps knowing it had a legal hot potato on its hands. This was more than the small casinos could abide and they, along with prominent anti-gamers, sued. The Biden administration tried to defend the compact but was so disorganized in its presentation that Judge Dabney Friedrich chastised them for their 15
