Chris Boline
Hearts all over the Sunshine State have broken now that Florida sports betting is officially on hold for now. In a shocking turn of events, a U.S. Federal Judge ruled against the state and the Seminole Tribe in their hopes of officially launching legal sports betting. Now, everything is completely up in the air. To make things worse, Hard Rock Cafe has shut down its sports betting app in Florida effective immediately.
While things were in limbo, this latest decision by the Hard Rock hasn’t been a shocker at all in a sense because of what happened at the federal level. With that said, it’s still a bummer, especially after there was so much excitement following the surprising launch of online sports betting for Floridians. Countless bets were made and people loved it.
With the NFL in full swing, plus the NBA and others, people were checking out all the different online NFL betting sites for odds and putting their bets in. With the Miami Dolphins currently on a five-game winning streak too, it only enticed people to fire up through the online app and place bets. Don’t forget about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers putting on a show either, as Tom Brady is looking like an ageless warrior.
Now, though, people in Florida have to see if there will be any changes in the ruling of Florida sports betting now being illegal and not allowed to move forward. Again, the popularity of the app was growing and growing in Florida. People were complimenting it left and right because of how easy and fun it was. For now, though, things have been shut down. Will it be able to open back up down the road?
How Long Until Sports Betting Is Back In Florida? https://t.co/kABK9my9DP
— 96.9 The Game (@969thegame) December 8, 2021
Florida sports betting case could end up making its way to the Supreme Court
Looking to how things might end up playing out down the road, the Florida sports betting case could end up making its way to the Supreme Court in the future. Matter of fact, this could turn out to be the most likely outcome, as Florida isn’t going to sit back and let things just fall by the wayside. Instead, Florida and Governor Ron DeSantis will look at every resource to try and get this decision flipped.
When the two parties agreed to their massive 30-year agreement, it was a historic day for the state. People have been dreaming of being able to make legal sports bets inside the state for years, as they’re growing more and more tired of having to travel to different states to do so. This agreement with the Seminole Tribe was supposed to change everything. Instead, more drama has arrived for everyone.
With the Federal Judge ruling against Florida and this sports betting agreement, the hope was that things would turn around with the appeal. Instead, those courts stuck with their decision and made it more than clear that Florida’s plan simply wasn’t following the rules. This was the argument from the opposition from the start. It’s proven to be quite the case, as they’ve prevented Florida’s plans from going through.
With all of that said, Florida’s representatives are pushing another appeal, as they still believe that a major mistake has been made and the federal courts will open their eyes and rule in their favor. With that said, they can still try and get things to the Supreme Court. This feels like it would be the last-ditch effort, but the expectation here is that the Supreme Court would take their side. Only time will tell.
Florida is losing $1.5 million *every day with sports being shutdown according to @VoteRandyFine. The gaming chair is our guest on @OrlandoMatters, we look into what’s next for @HardRockSB and betting in Florida. 10am on @fox35orlando pic.twitter.com/a1B0rVRgFn
— Ryan Elijah (@ryanelijah) December 10, 2021
What’s next for the Florida sports betting push?
As you’ve probably been able to tell from the writing, everyone wants to know what’s next for the Florida sports betting push? Well, unfortunately, this really could take plenty of time and we may not have our answer in the near future. This is only going to add to the frustration for everyone out there who was hoping for something to be announced sooner than later. That’s not going to happen.
According to local reports, the appellant’s brief (in this case Florida) is due by Jan. 10 of 2022. After that, things will be reviewed by the courts and then there will be oral arguments to be made by sometime in March or even April. Once that happens, then it will be back to the drawing board for all the parties involved, as they’ll have to play a bit of a waiting game to see when a decision will end up being made.
Having said that, this one really could take a while. At the end of the day, the courts could take a few days or a week. But, they could also end up taking several months, as they’re really going to want to consider everything at play and not rush a decision. They want to make sure things are 100 percent set and they don’t leave any space for mistakes. There’s so much intrigue here too.
The hope from all is that we will know a final answer by October of 2022 the latest. You never know if things will get extended from then, though. Right now, no one knows what to expect. What we do know, however, is that sports betting in Florida is on hold and that’s going to stay the case for a little while here unfortunately.
