How the Florida Sports Betting Case Reshapes Gambling Landscape

• The U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to hear the Florida online sports betting case, guaranteeing Seminole Tribe control on the industry until 2051.
• Details of the Florida Gaming Compact allow the Seminole Tribe to legalize iGaming, likely by 2026 through the same process as online sports betting.
• Ripple effects of Monday’s ruling expect multiple states, like California and Minnesota, to implement similar tribal gaming compacts to legalize online sports betting and iGaming.

MIAMI – The Seminole Tribe and Hard Rock Bet secured their Florida sports betting monopoly until 2051 with Monday’s court decision. The Supreme Court of the United States denied West Flagler’s request to hear the sports betting case, as they challenged the legality of Florida’s gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe.

The court decision wasn’t unanimous though, as Justice Kavanaugh stated he would’ve granted the petition for a writ of certiorari. The U.S. Supreme Court denies most cases that don’t have a large national implication, denying roughly 95% of all hearing requests.

Monday’s court decision could have the biggest impact on the legal sports betting landscape since the PAPSA overturn that removed a federal ban on sports betting. It opens up the possibility for other states to offer legal sports betting through tribal gaming compacts similar to the one granting a Florida sports betting and gaming monopoly to the Seminole Tribe.

Supreme Court Decision Opens Door For Online Gaming In Other States

As we mentioned roughly a year ago when the Florida sports betting ban was first overturned, the future of legal sports betting is set to change after the U.S. Supreme Court denied hearing the case. States like California can legalize online sports betting and iGaming through compacts with tribes, as California tribes spent millions of dollars on a 2022 campaign to bring online California sports betting with a ballot initiative.

South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Minnesota are other states that benefit from Monday’s ruling and will likely begin working on Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) compacts to legalize online sports betting and iGaming. Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia are the only current sports betting states with regulated iGaming, but that number expects to increase.

News tags: California | Florida | Hard Rock | Hard Rock Bet | Minnesota | Seminole Tribe | South Dakota | West Flagler | Wisconsin