The post Florida Supreme Court Says No To Taking Seminoles’ Hard Rock Platform Offline appeared first on SportsHandle.

The Florida parimutuels trying to have the Seminole Tribe’s compact with the state of Florida declared invalid were dealt another blow Friday when the Florida Supreme Court denied a motion that would have required the tribe to shutter its Hard Rock Bet sports wagering app.

The Seminoles launched the platform with no warning Nov. 7. This Florida sports betting soft launch is open to customers with a prior existing relationship to Hard Rock and some others, but is not available for general use.

West Flagler and Associates (WFA) is fighting the state of Florida and the U.S. Department of the Interior on two fronts, in both Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. WFA has been denied a stay at both levels, and previously said it will file its U.S. Supreme Court case Monday.

The Florida Supreme Court set Dec. 1 as the date that Gov. Ron DeSantis and representatives from the legislature must respond to that WFA complaint. Once the U.S. Supreme Court case is filed and DeSantis’ response is filed in Florida, all parties will be waiting to see if either court accepts the case.

Friday’s decision potentially sets the stage for the Seminoles to move out of soft-launch mode and into full launch in Florida. “The Seminole Tribe of Florida is pleased with this unanimous decision by the Justices of the Florida Supreme Court,” a Seminole spokesman said via email to Sports Handle, while declining to elaborate on future plans.

Seminoles appear to be getting what they want

The one-page order reads, “The Motion to Expedite Consideration of Request for all Writs Relief Pending Resolution of Petition for Writ of Quo Warranto and Suspend Sports Betting Provisions Contained in §§ 285.710(13)(B)(7) & 849.142, Fla. Stat. is hereby denied.”

Combined with the U.S. Supreme Court’s Oct. 25 decision to deny a similar stay, sports betting in Florida is legal unless one of the courts rules in West Flagler’s favor.

The 2021 Seminole Compact, approved by state legislators and “deemed approved” by the U.S. Department of the Interior, grants the Seminoles a monopoly on legal digital and retail sports betting. The compact outlines a hub-and-spoke model, which allows for any bet made anywhere in the state of Florida to be considered on tribal land if it flows through a Seminole server.

That model is not in use anywhere else in the U.S., but was floated as a possibility in Minnesota earlier this year, and is in the text of a proposed ballot initiative for California sports betting that is currently in the summary-and-title phase.

The Seminoles on Nov. 1 announced they will open for in-person wagering, as well as begin offering craps and roulette at physical casinos, beginning Dec. 7. The tribe shared that it will be a staggered start, with the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Seminole Classic Casino in Hollywood, and Seminole Casino Coconut Creek locations the first to offer wagering and expanded gaming. It will then roll out the new games in Tampa Dec. 8 and at its Immokalee (Naples) and Brighton (near Lake Okeechobee) locations Dec. 11.

The post Florida Supreme Court Says No To Taking Seminoles’ Hard Rock Platform Offline appeared first on SportsHandle.