Just when it appeared Florida was on its way to becoming a gambling mecca, a federal judge invalidated an agreement between the state and the Seminoles that would have given the tribe a monopoly on online sports betting here.

On Nov. 22, U.S. District Court Judge Dabney L. Friedrich ordered the U.S. Department of Interior to throw out the 2021 gaming compact Gov. Ron DeSantis reached with the tribe. The judge apparently shared the misgivings of many of the compact’s critics, who saw the deal as a way around the Florida Constitution and federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, to expand gambling in Florida.