Seminoles Suspends Sports Betting In Florida Temporarily On Saturday
By Space Coast Daily // December 7, 2021
The Seminole Tribe of Florida took to the media on Saturday to announce that it is putting sports betting on a temporary suspension in Florida. This decision was said to have been made after the Seminoles were denied an emergency request for a stay pending appeal Friday by a three-judge panel.
Daniel Wallach, known sports betting expert with a law practice in Hallandale Beach, claimed that it could be over a year before the next legal sports bet is made in Florida once more, and online casinos usa is not glad with this news.
Speaking to the media, Wallach said: “It’s my view the next legal online sports bet will be placed no sooner than 2023 because the Florida Legislature did not do its due diligence in vetting the compact for legal compliance with IGRA (Indian Gaming Regulatory Act).”
Wallach also claimed that there are only three big avenues for sports betting to make its return: the Seminoles winning in their appeal through the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals; an agreement between the Seminoles and state of Florida that will accept in-person sports betting but not online sports betting; having a statewide referendum made on Florida’s Nov. 2022 ballot.
Wallach admitted that a decision on the appeal from D.C. might take up to a year, a new agreement wouldn’t give the Seminoles access to online betting, which is the most lucrative part of sports betting as a whole.
Gary Bitner, a Seminoles spokesman, delivered his statement on Saturday, saying: “As a result of yesterday’s Appeals Court decision denying a temporary stay of the District Court’s decision on the 2021 Compact, Hard Rock Sportsbook will temporarily suspend operations of its mobile app in Florida. Account balances for all current players will be refunded as requested.
“Despite the decision, the Seminole Tribe looks forward to working with the State of Florida and the U.S. Department of Justice to aggressively defend the validity of the 2021 Compact before the Appeals Court, which has yet to rule on the merits of the 2021 Compact.
“The Seminole Tribe of Florida, the State of Florida and the United States have all taken the position that the 2021 Compact is legal.”
This temporary suspension of sports betting means that the Seminoles will be missing out on some of the lucrative opportunities that come with the NFL playoffs and college football bowl games, along with several real money casino games.
With this suspension in place, Florida residents won’t be able to legally bet on Saturday’s college football conference championship games via sports betting app, this includes the Southeastern Conference title game between Georgia and Alabama.
This could also lead to the Seminoles missing out on the Super Bowl, which is the biggest opportunity for sports betting for the prolific league.
The agreement made between Florida and the Seminoles also called for the latter to have craps and roulette, in a bid to expand their operation. But that can’t happen until a new agreement is made.
“The Seminoles and the Governor overplayed their hand here,” Wallach added. “There was a compact that could have passed legal muster, which would have provided the tribe with craps, roulette, on-reservations sportsbooks, and up to four new casinos. That was all there for the taking.
“But they got greedy and wanted to use the federal vehicle of a compact to extract for themselves an off-reservation monopoly statewide.”
