Last week, in West Flagler v. Haaland, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a major blow to opponents of online tribal sports betting, effectively affirming the D.C. Circuit’s rejection of a challenge to a compact between the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the State of Florida that permits the tribe to offer online sports betting throughout the state.
In 2021, the Seminole Tribe negotiated a compact with Florida that—in conjunction with a state law interpreting online wagers to occur at the location of the receiving server—allowed the tribe to offer online sports betting throughout the state. After its approval by the Secretary of the Interior, two brick-and-mortar casinos in Florida sued the U.S. Department of the Interior (“DOI”), arguing that the compact violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (“IGRA”), the federal Wire Act, and the federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. Specifically, the casinos argued that IGRA only allows for gaming on Indian lands, and therefore the tribe and Florida were violating federal law.
A federal district court agreed with the casino plaintiffs and granted summary judgment in their favor. On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia saw it differently, deciding that compacts are allowed to discuss a “multitude of topics” related to Class III gaming, including the “allocation of criminal and civil jurisdiction between states and tribes with respect to enforcing those laws.” Therefore, the compact language allowing servers located on Indian lands to receive bets placed from anywhere in Florida was permissible under IGRA. The casinos then sought to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, and just last week, the Supreme Court denied the casinos’ petition for certiorari, leaving in place the D.C. Circuit’s decision.
On Feb. 16, 2024, DOI issued a new final rule for 25 C.F.R. Part 293, which regulates the contents of and procedures for approving Class III gaming compacts. Among other changes to Part 293, the new rule clarifies the criteria that DOI will use to approve compacts and appropriate topics for Class III gaming compacts.
The upshot of the Supreme Court decision in West Flagler is that tribes may now participate in online sports betting so long as the tribe and the state in which the tribe resides agree to allow statewide mobile sport betting from tribal lands, and state law allows for such activity. This decision will likely encourage other tribes to explore similar opportunities with other states.
