Florida sports gambling fight heads to U.S. Supreme Court

TALLAHASSEE — Arguing that the outcome of the case could represent a “blueprint for expanding gaming outside of Indian lands,” owners of two Florida pari-mutuels plan to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on whether a multibillion-dollar deal giving the Seminole Tribe control of sports betting throughout the state violates federal law.

A Washington, D.C.-based appeals court last week refused to reconsider a ruling that found the 2021 agreement did not violate the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which regulates gambling on tribal lands.

But a motion filed Friday by owners of Magic City Casino in Miami-Dade County and Bonita Springs Poker Room in Southwest Florida argued the decision conflicts with other appellate rulings and “enables an extreme shift in public policy on legalized gaming that, once started, may be difficult to stop.”

The three-judge panel’s June 30 ruling reversed a November 2021 decision by a federal judge who halted a 30-year gambling agreement signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Seminole Tribe of Florida Chairman Marcellus Osceola Jr. and approved by the state Legislature.