BREAKING NEWS: Judge throws out Florida’s sports betting deal with Seminole Tribe

BREAKING NEWS: Judge throws out Florida’s sports betting deal with Seminole Tribe

Article brief provided by USA Today
  • John Kennedy, USA Today
November 23, 2021 11:19 AM
  • John Kennedy, USA Today

A federal judge Monday night overturned Florida’s gambling compact with the Seminole Tribe, ruling the sports betting plan violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

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The action by U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich halts the tribe’s online sports betting, which had only launched Nov. 1. In her ruling, the Washington, D.C.-based judge decided that allowing such betting to take place from any laptop or smartphone — but completed through servers on tribal land — violated terms of IGRA.

The ruling sides with Magic City Casino in Miami-Dade County and Bonita Springs Poker Room in Southwest Florida, whose owners challenged the gambling deal signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis, after it was approved by state lawmakers in a special session of the Legislature in May.