TRIBAL GAMING IN FLORIDA
I. Introduction Since the Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018, 1 legal sports wagering has expanded across the country at an explosive rate. 2 Sports betting is now legal on the books in 36 states and actively operating in 30 of those plus the District of Colombia. 3 Legalized betting has proven to be a profitable venture for governments: states with sports wagering operations have aggregated over one billion dollars in tax revenue since PASPA was ruled unconstitutional. 4 Tribal governments have also made moves to cash in on this rapid expansion of gambling. Tribes in seventeen states offer some form of sports wagering. 5 For sports bettors, the opportunity to participate in legal gaming has expanded in more ways than just geographical. Twenty states and the District of Columbia currently allow online or mobile sports wagering within their geographic boundaries. 6 Mobile or online platforms have become the overwhelmingly preferred method of sports betting. 7 Tribes can become participants in the mobile sports wagering market essentially through two avenues. First, tribes can obtain a license through a state’s general regulatory system and offer a mobile wagering product statewide. 8 For example, in Arizona tribes have been granted licenses by the states
to operate mobile sports wagering throughout Arizona. 9 Alternatively, tribes can offer mobile wagering pursuant to a tribal-state compact under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (“IGRA”), as done by tribes in Washington. 10 In such cases, mobile wagering is typically only available in the tribe’s casino or within the boundaries of the tribe’s land. 11 This traditional sorting of tribal mobile wagering became muddied by the new compact negotiated between the Seminole Tribe and the state of Florida in 2021. 12 The compact granted the Seminole Tribe the exclusive right to operate mobile sports wagering throughout the state whether or not patrons were physically on tribal land at the time they placed their bets. 13 In November of 2021, a federal judge ruled the compact legally invalid in West Flagler Associates v. Haaland . 14 The next two sections give historical background on the development of tribal gaming law as it relates to the West Flagler case. II. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1998 Under federal law, tribes are generally viewed as sovereign and independent entities, whose sovereignty is paradoxically subject to limitations imposed by Congress. 15 Stemming from a series of early Supreme Court cases, federal law has developed
1 Murphy v. NCAA, 138 S. CT. 1461 (2018). 2 Timothy L. O’Brien, The Sports Gambling Gold Rush Is Absolutely Off the Charts , BLOOMBERG (Dec. 16, 2021), https://www.bloomberg. com/graphics/2021-opinion-online-sports-betting-future-of-american-gambling/ 3 Interactive Map: Sports Betting in the US , AM. GAMING ASSO’C, https://www.americangaming.org/research/state- gaming-map/. 4 US Sports Betting Revenue and Handle , LEGAL SPORTS REP., https://www.legalsportsreport.com/sports- betting/revenue/. 5 Tribal Sports Betting , INT. CENTER FOR GAMING REG., https://www.unlv.edu/icgr/tribal. 6 Robert Dellafave, Legal US Sports Betting , USBETS, https://www.usbets.com/sports-betting/. Two of these states, Nevada and Illinois, require patrons to sign up for a mobile wagering account in person. 7 O’Brien, supra note 2. 8 Kolby KickingWoman, Sports Betting: The new, shiny toy , INDIAN COUNTRY TODAY, https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/sports-bet - ting-the-new-shiny-toy. 9 Id. 10 Jim Tomlin, Mobile Sports Betting Launches Inside Washington State Tribal Casino , TOP US CASINOS, https://www.topuscasinos.com/ news/mobile-sports-betting-launches-inside-washington-state-tribal-casino. 11 Id . 12 John Holden, Tribal Sports Betting Storylines to Watch , LEGAL SPORTS REPORT, https://www.legalsportsreport.com/61604/tribal-sports- betting-storyline-to-watch-2022/. 13 Id . 14 W. Flagler Assocs. v. Haaland, No. 21-CV-2192 (DLF), 2021 WL 5492996, at *12 (D.D.C. Nov. 22, 2021) [hereinafter West Flagler ]. 15 KATHRYN R.L. RAND & STEVEN ANDREW LIGHT, INDIAN GAMING AND TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY: THE CASINO COMPROMISE (2005), 26.
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IMGL MAGAZINE | APRIL 2023
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