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Sports Betting's Return Won't Permanently Harm Florida, DOI Tells Supreme Court

A reaction was filed by the Department of the Interior on Wednesday to a recent request by two video gaming companies to the U.S. Supreme Court to stay an appeals judgment launched earlier this year regarding Florida sports betting.
The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in June essentially restored a gaming contract in between the state of Florida and its Seminole Tribe. That compact granted the Seminole exclusivity over retail and online sports betting sites in the state, however it was thrown out in late 2021, triggering a shutdown of the tribe's Hard Rock Bet sportsbook in Florida.
U.S. Department of Interior informs Supreme Court there's no need to remain a lower judgment that could bring legal sports betting back to Florida through Hard Rock Bet. Two video gaming business want that stay, but DOI argues, to name a few things, no irreversible financial damage will be done. pic.twitter.com/B7ylDWlgip
However, the appeals court judgment teed up a possible return of Hard Rock to Florida. Then came further legal wrangling in the appeals court, followed by the recent demand to the Supreme Court to stay the while the gaming companies petitioned for a complete review of the case.
U.S. Chief Supreme Court Justice John Roberts ordered last Thursday that the appeal court's required be recalled and remained pending any further order from the top judges. The Supreme Court provided the DOI until this Wednesday to react to the application for a stay.
Playing the classics
The action filed by the DOI strikes a lot of the same notes played in the lower courts, particularly, that the Florida compact follows federal gaming law and the DOI was within its rights to authorize the agreement. A federal judge disagreed with this in 2021 over the compact's online sports betting provisions, sparking the continuous appeals procedure.
"Each of those contentions lacks merit, and none provides a dispute with any choice of this Court or another court of appeals," the DOI reply on Wednesday states. "The Court therefore is not reasonably likely to grant certiorari [review], and there is no fair prospect that the Court would reverse the court of appeals' judgment if it did grant evaluation."
The federal government also declares the gaming companies are failing to reveal they will suffer "irreversible damage" that would prompt the Supreme Court's intervention, another reason a stay is unneeded. While West Flagler Associates Ltd. and Bonita-Fort Myers Corp. claim the appeal-court choice will trigger a "significant shift" in public policy and harm residents, the feds say those worries are lost.
"Florida's Legislature-- presumably acting in its people' benefits and reflecting its own understanding of the Florida constitution-- enacted a statute in 2021 specifically authorizing the internet sports wagering addressed in the Compact," the DOI reply states. "Florida's Governor, likewise probably acting upon behalf of the State's citizenry, participated in the Compact on behalf of the State, representing for the State that the video gaming activities gone over therein 'comply in all respects with the Florida Constitution.'"
The DOI and the gaming business will now wait on the Supreme Court's next order.