Florida Sports Betting Hit With New Lawsuit

Here. We. Go. Again. Florida sports betting is once again getting sued over its legality inside the state.

The latest effort is the most shocking, however. Shocking because it was believed legal sports betting in-state was cleared up after the Seminoles Tribe won in the Supreme Court about a year ago. In June 2024, the courts opted not to hear a case suing the tribe for its hub-and-spoke model for offering gambling across its top-rated sports betting app, Hard Rock Bet.

The Seminoles signed a 30-year compact with the state of Florida to be the state’s only legal sports betting option. Offshore sportsbooks are still alive and well, but the only legal option is the Seminole-owned Hard Rock. But now that is even a question after the latest lawsuit filed in the Sunshine State. Here’s what’s going down and why this new court battle could threaten Florida’s mobile sports betting… again.

Who’s Suing This Time And Why

The latest legal attack comes courtesy of a group called Protect the Constitution LLC. Not a household name, but their goal is loud and clear: stop what they’re calling an unconstitutional expansion of gambling in Florida.

Their argument? Simple. Back in 2018, Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment that requires any expansion of “casino gambling” to go through a voter referendum. The group claims that by allowing the Seminole Tribe to offer mobile sports betting across the state — even though bets are processed through servers on tribal land (this is the hub-and-spoke model we mentioned earlier) — the legislature and Governor Ron DeSantis overstepped the law.

“Today, online sports betting occurs throughout the state of Florida,” the lawsuit reads. “But no citizens’ initiative has ever been held to provide authorization. And the people of Florida have never been allowed to exercise their constitutional right to decide whether sports betting should be authorized throughout the state.”

The lawsuit, filed in Leon County’s circuit court, is taking a much different legal path than the previous ones we’ve seen. It’s not targeting the compact through a writ like West Flagler did with the Supreme Court case we mentioned before. Instead, this new case is seeking a traditional declaratory judgment and injunction — asking the court to rule the 2021 compact unconstitutional under state law.

Revisiting The 2021 Compact

The 2021 compact is at the center of this lawsuit. Let’s recount what exactly happened back then since the story flew under the radar amid pandemic hysteria at the time. That year, Governor DeSantis signed a gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe that allowed them to offer sports betting through a hub-and-spoke model. That meant as long as the servers were located on tribal land, anyone in Florida could place a bet through their phone. That deal was ratified by the state legislature and given a thumbs-up by the U.S. Department of the Interior — which oversees tribal gaming compacts under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).

This model is truly one of a kind. In other states with Native American gambling presence, sports betting is not offered statewide like it is in Florida — strictly on tribal land, per the IGRA. That means a mobile app only takes bets when on the casino land. Florida found a roundabout way to offer mobile betting anywhere and everywhere by inserting those servers on tribal land instead.

That small, but important detail spurred the previous lawsuits against the Seminoles. Two pari-mutuel operators, West Flagler Associates and Bonita-Fort Myers Corp., immediately filed lawsuits in both state and federal court. Their argument was that IGRA only applies to gaming physically located on tribal land — not wagers placed statewide just because the server is tribal-based. They lost in federal court. The D.C. Circuit sided with the tribe, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case as we said.

The state-level challenge wasn’t any more successful. Florida’s Supreme Court threw out the case on a technicality earlier this year, saying a writ of quo warranto — the tool West Flagler tried to use — isn’t designed to rule on the constitutionality of a law.

The Stakes Are High

It sounds cliche, but it’s true: this is about way more than just sports betting. At the heart of this new lawsuit is a question of how far tribal gaming rights extend — and whether the legislature can give the Seminole Tribe a monopoly over online betting without letting voters weigh in. That’s where the 2018 amendment comes into play. That measure was sold to voters as a check against backdoor gambling expansion, requiring public approval before any major changes to gaming laws could happen.

But the fine print of the amendment also included a carve-out. It said it doesn’t “limit the ability of the state or Native American tribes to negotiate gaming compacts” under IGRA. That’s what the state and tribe are hanging their hats on — the idea that it’s still technically legal because the bets run through tribal servers.

But alas, it’s also an issue over money — when is it not in the courts, right? The Seminole Tribe is paying the state a guaranteed $2.5 billion over the first five years of the 30-year deal. While they aren’t required to publicize how much money they’re making off the betting exclusivity, one has to imagine it’s higher than that number.

This is a story we’ll be following closely over the next months, if not the full year. Be sure to check back with us for updates because the ramifications of this one are simply too big to ignore.