How Supreme Court's Florida Ruling Will Impact U.S. Betting
Gaming attorney Samir Patel discussed with ESPN the future of U.S. sports betting and Native American tribes' place in it in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision not to hear the case West Flagler Associates v. Haaland. The case stemmed from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' compact with the Seminole Tribe allowing sports betting from anywhere in the state as long as the wager goes to a reservation server. The casino and racetrack company West Flagler Associates challenged the compact, claiming it violates the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia agreed. However, the Seminole Tribe appealed, and the decision was reversed. West Flagler then took the case to the Supreme Court, where justices declined to hear the case. Mr. Patel explained how this decision charts a course for other states, in particular California, to implement their own regulatory frameworks for sports betting.
"[The California tribes] have a clear road map now of how to actually get online sports gambling under their control, and that is using the Florida model, having a governor who is willing to participate, and having the governor implement a new law," he commented. "It would be copying and pasting what Florida did, in that, creating the law on the books that deems bets made off tribal land coming to rest on a server on tribal land will be deemed a bet made on tribal land."
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