TRIBAL GAMING IN FLORIDA
VI. CONCLUSION The Seminole Tribe’s difficult road to a compact with the state of Florida was rendered naught by the abysmal defense mounted by the government and the court’s refusal to allow the tribe to defend its own interests undermined both the federal government’s trust relationship with the tribe and the policy goals of IGRA. The 2021 Compact was a result of long and arduous negotiations and supported by the tribal government, multiple branches of the state government, and a federal agency. This case will have a significant impact on the development of future compacts under IGRA and gaming law in general, as courts grapple with the relevance of physical location as related to mobile gaming. Though the district court’s decision narrows and limits mobile gaming opportunities under IGRA, it will not be the last word on the issue. The Seminole Tribe continued to offer mobile wagering in the initial wake of the court’s decision. 231 Mobile wagering remained available in Florida until the Tribe halted operations following the D.C. Circuit Court’s refusal to hear the Tribe’s motion for a stay pending appeal. 232 As of May 2022, appeals filed by both the Seminole Tribe and the Department of the Interior are pending in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. 233 In addition to the denial of the motion to intervene for a limited purpose, the Seminole Tribe is also appealing the district court’s failure to afford the tribe the opportunity to address the merits of the case. 234 Regardless of the outcome, the final determination in the case will undoubtedly shape the future of tribal mobile gaming under IGRA.
court informed the tribe that any hearing on the motion was “unlikely.” 226 Thus, the court not only denied the tribe’s motion to intervene in the case, but also denied the tribe the ability to argue why it should be allowed to intervene. The court also undermined IGRA’s goal of tribal economic development by invalidating the entire 2021 Compact. In the final order, the court noted that it was knowingly invalidating the entire Compact despite the severability clause. 227 The court’s legal reasoning – that a line-by-line review of compact provisions is prohibited – came second to the government’s failure to request severability. 228 The court determined that the Secretary forfeited any request for severance by omitting it from all filings in the case. 229 Despite this oversight by the government, however, the parimutuel operators took the position at oral argument that only the mobile sports betting provisions should be invalidated for violating IGRA. 230 The court’s decision to ignore the severability clause and throw out the entire 2021 Compact thus was made in contradiction to even the plaintiff’s wishes. This decision substantially harmed the tribe’s economic development because it deprived the tribe of gaming revenues from the new forms of gaming authorized at the tribe’s casinos under the Compact in addition to the mobile sports betting. By denying the court the ability to present an argument, intervene in the case, and receive revenue from the other forms of gaming authorized under the 2021 Compact, the court undermined IGRA’s explicit self-sufficiency and economic development goals. Invalidating the entire 2021 Compact without considering the impact on the Tribe’s particularized interests was entirely at odds with the goals Congress carefully crafted into IGRA.
JACQUELINE VOKOUN Graduate of the William S. Boyd School of Law University of Nevada, Las Vegas For information contact jdvokounduran@gmail.com
226 Id . 227 Id . 228 Id . 229 Id . 230 Id . 231 Scott Powers, U.S. appeal of sports betting case asks if judge went too far, FL. POL. (Feb. 14, 2022), https://flor - idapolitics.com/archives/495955-u-s-appeal-of-sports-betting-case-asks-if-judge-went-too-far/. 232 Id . 233 Appellant’s Notice of Appeal, W. Flagler Assocs. v. Haaland, No. 22-520 (D.C. Cir. Jan. 25, 2022). 234 Appellant’s Statement of the Issues, W. Flagler Assocs. v. Haaland, No. 22-520 (D.C. Cir. Jan. 25, 2022).
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IMGL MAGAZINE | APRIL 2023
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