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

The post A panel of federal appeals court judges has opened the door to Florida sports betting appeared first on Keno Wizard.

ComeOn Group has announced the launch of a brand new live dealer casino suite in Scandinavia under the “brand-within-a-brand” name, Nordic Ruby Lounge. The premier bespoke gaming studio joins the rest of the Ruby Lounge portfolio launched within the brand with Evolution Live Gaming in March 2022.

The live studio offers players in the Nordic region a local touch and native entertainment and will be available across the company’s core markets. One differentiation is the hosting of local games by native live dealers giving the suite a personalized and customized touch.

Bespoke Environment for Nordic Players

Cristiano Blanco, Chief Product Officer at ComeOn Group, said: “We are extremely happy to see Nordic Ruby Lounge take things to the next level with our live casino offer. Our Nordic players can now enjoy a bespoke environment locally tailored around their preferences, with native dealers for that extra cherry on top. It’s been about great teamwork throughout all involved departments, which has landed us in a great quality product with a truly impressive design and functionality. For us, the launch of Nordic Ruby Lounge is a great milestone and with that said we are looking forward to seeing Nordic Ruby Lounge succeed and take things up a notch.”

Nordic Ruby Lounge joins the Group’s Ruby Lounge portfolio, which was launched in early 2022. ComeOn and Evolution have enjoyed a successful partnership since 2013 and Ruby Lounge gave ComeOn a great opportunity to make a strong brand identity statement with the bespoke games. Making it wholly Nordic and enhancing the native offering gives it a chance to re-introduce the brand within a brand with the personalized touches it needs to be the top-tier studio in the region.

The dedicated ComeOn team serves up roulette and blackjack from several tables across the Group’s Nordic brands creating a one-of-a-kind live studio product that sets a high standard for competitors to reach for and marks a milestone in ComeOn’s track for growth.

When the broader Ruby Lounge portfolio was launched by the partners across multiple online markets, rather than restricted to the Nordics as today’s debut is, it was comprised of one Roulette table and eight blackjack tables.

The games operated 24/7 from Evolution studios and were served as well by dedicated ComeOn dealers.

Live Suite Appears in Several Nordic Casinos

ComeOn Group’s extensive brand portfolio includes ComeOn, Snabbare, Hajper and Casinostugan and several more, with the Group operating in multiple markets including Sweden and Denmark.

Commenting in March on the initial launch of Ruby Lounge, Cristiano Blanco, Chief Product Officer at ComeOn Group, said: “The Ruby Lounge extends choice and entertainment, offering an exclusive, premium, vibrant and exciting live gaming experience. Once again, Evolution has proved what great partners they are. The Ruby Lounge has such a strong identity yet works with all our brands.”

At that time Erland Hellstrom, Commercial Manager at Evolution, commented: “We have been working closely with ComeOn Group for many years and we’re delighted that their dedicated live casino environment is now live. The end result is magnificent and early statistics suggest that ComeOn Group players absolutely love the whole look and feel of this premium environment with its world-class live casino games.”

Beyond the Nordics, ComeOn added a bespoke Group branded live dealer game studio powered by Stake Logic Live games to its Dutch-facing brand in late 2022.

Source: ComeOn Group launches new bespoke live casino studio under the name Nordic Ruby Lounge, EU Gaming News, June 1, 2023

The post ComeOn has opened a bespoke Nordic Ruby Lounge live dealer suite for its Nordic-facing sites appeared first on Keno Wizard.