An error by a federal judge soon after sportsbooks launched in Florida lawmakers on the budget committee along with recipients of state funding as well as Gov. Ron DeSantis have scored a rather large victory in court – worth at least $2.5 billion and as much as $6b by some estimates.

A three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected a challenge to the 2021 state/tribal gaming compact in Florida that authorized the Seminole Tribe there to offer mobile sports betting. The practice was banned soon after books opened for business in 2021 and online sports betting in the state has been deemed in violation of the law since that time.

Sports Betting Could Open Back Up in Florida Right Away

However, that could change at any time with the new ruling. Sportsbetting could return to Florida virtually overnight.

In a nutshell, the judges decided that any conflict with the opposing party needed to be settled under state law as none of the assertions made actually had anything to do with federal law. So, while it may appear to be a landmark decision, it was really more of a venue correction than anything else in the final analysis and an appeal by the plaintiffs could send the industry right back into a death spiral at any time with a challenge to the decision and an injunction.

The Seminole Tribe applauded the decision but stopped short of saying it would resume sports betting right away.

A lawyer representing the casinos that had challenged the compact pointed out what the plaintiff side saw as nonsensical – according to Hamish Hume, the court had somehow “recognized” that federal gambling laws “cannot authorize gambling off of Indian lands, but then upheld a compact that purports on its face to do exactly that.”

The legal counsel stated, “We respectfully disagree with that decision, and are evaluating our possible next steps.”

The federal appeals court’s reversal of a lower court judge’s order was personally and politically important for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis because he personally lobbied lawmakers to pass the compact in 2021.

A spokesman for the governor stated: “While we are not surprised the lower court’s perplexing ruling was unanimously overturned, this is great news for Florida,” Mahon said in an email to Politico. “We will continue working with the Seminole Tribe of Florida to ensure the success of this historic compact — the largest gaming compact in US history.”

A spokesman for the Seminole Tribe said of the most recent decision: “The Seminole Tribe of Florida is pleased with today’s unanimous decision. It is a positive outcome for the Seminole Tribe and the people of Florida and for all of Indian Country. The Tribe is fully reviewing the decision to determine its next steps.”

New Compact Also Authorizes Table Games

In addition to authorizing sports betting the “new compact” also allowed the tribe to offer table games such as craps and roulette to its existing slots casinos and to build at least one more casino on its reservation the Hollywood area which already has a Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

In the ruling that blocked implementation of the compact, D.C. District Judge Dabney Friedrich decided the compact was beyond what the laws allowed because it let people place sports bets anywhere in the state – which could be a violation of federal law that govern gambling on Tribal lands.

The impetus of the adverse decision was a pair of lawsuits brought by an anti-gambling group active in Florida, another that focuses primarily on the southern part of the state and casino competitors. Plaintiffs had sued U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, who didn’t block the compact but instead took no action and allowed it to automatically come into effect after some time as prescribed by law.

The erring judge also determined that it would take a new citizens’ initiative to authorize sports betting under the premise that voters passed a law in 2018 that required any expansion of casino gambling without a citizen’s initiative – that law was supported by both Disney Corp and the Tribe.

The Tribe and DeSantis relied on the legal theory that bets processed on servers physically situated on tribal lands were indeed placed “on the Reservation”. The Trump-appointed judge called that a “fiction” and stated that: “When a federal statute authorizes an activity only at specific locations, parties may not evade that limitation by ‘deeming’ their activity to occur where it, as a factual matter, does not.”

The panel of D.C. appeals court judges in essence said that neither argument mattered in this instance: “Whether it is otherwise lawful for a patron to place bets from non-tribal land within Florida may be a question for that State’s courts, but it is not the subject of this litigation and not for us to decide.”

“We hold only that the Secretary’s decision not to act on the Compact was consistent with <federal law>,” wrote Wilkins who added, “We express no opinion as to whether the Florida statute ratifying the compact is constitutional” under Florida law.

The balance of arguments raised by the litigants against the legality of the compact was also summarily dismissed as a ‘matter for state courts to decide’.

Source: DeSantis scores big legal win upholding $2.5B gambling deal with Florida tribe, Politico, June 30, 2023

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Guardian Media Group has moved to prohibit any forms of gambling advertising from appearing on its online and print outlets, The Guardian, Observer, and Guardian Weekly, with immediate effect.

Gambling Advertising Facilitates Addiction

The media group outlined ethical concerns behind its decision to ban gambling advertising, including promotions for sports betting, online casinos and scratch cards, refusing to make money out of services that can lead to “addiction and financial ruin.”

Commenting on the decision, Guardian Media Group’s chief executive officer, Anna Bateson, outlined that gambling advertising plays a significant role in leading gamblers into addictive cycles, thus facilitating financial stress, mental health issues and other social problems.

“Guardian journalists have reported on the devastating impact of the gambling industry in the UK and Australia, helping to shift the dial and ensure the issue remains high on the public agenda,” Bateson said, pointing to studies revealing “a clear correlation between exposure to gambling advertising and increased intentions to engage in regular gambling.”

Bateson was in particular concerned about the way online advertising from bookmakers was designed to lure back individual gamblers, determined to make sure the business fulfills its “primary obligation” and “do the right thing” for its readers, while utilizing “other ways to generate revenue.”

Lotteries Excluded from the Ban

The ban applies worldwide to all of the company’s online and print outlets. Gambling advertising for lotteries was excluded from the ban as the media recognized the lotteries’ social contribution in terms of raising money for good causes, as well as the “non-instantaneous” nature of lottery draws.

“We understand and respect that millions of our readers, including our reporters and staff, are passionate sports fans who may occasionally choose to engage in gambling as part of their sporting experience,” Bateson continued.

Highlighting that the media fully supports “the enjoyment of sports” and respects “individuals’ choices to participate in occasional gambling on football, horse racing, or any other sport,” she pointed out that “the pervasive nature of retargeted digital advertisements” and their potential to trap some of the sports fans in an addictive cycle was the media’s main concern.

Bateson also noted the independent ownership structure of Guardian Media Group allowed the media to make these types of decisions. The media relies on direct contributions from its readers, rather than advertising, for its income.

The Guardian’s decision to ban gambling advertising on its online and print pages comes during times when the Gambling Act Review in the UK produced the much-awaited White Paper, while countries like Canada and Australia consider further tightening their gambling regimes.

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