Ryan Nicol
The Seminole Tribe of Florida is launching a slate of new game offerings at its casinos starting Dec. 7, including sports betting.
The news comes after the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Seminole Tribe of Florida to reject a federal challenge to the new Gaming Compact with the state.
Those games will launch on Dec. 7 at the Tribe’s South Florida outfits: Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Seminole Classic Casino in Hollywood and Seminole Casino Coconut Creek.
The new games will be live on Dec. 8 at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa. On Dec. 11, those games will be available at Seminole Casino Immokalee and Seminole Brighton Casino.
“The Seminole Tribe thanks the State of Florida, the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Justice for defending our Compact,” said Marcellus Osceola Jr., Chair of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. “By working together, the Tribe, the State and the federal government achieved a historic legal victory.”
The Seminole Tribe of Florida is promising “star-studded celebrations” during December to help celebrate the opening of the new games, which are sure to bring in plenty of action to the Tribe’s properties.
“The Seminole Tribe of Florida’s new initiative will create jobs, increase tourism, and provide billions in added revenue for our state,” Gov. Ron DeSantis added in a statement. “I was proud to work with the Tribe on our historic Gaming Compact, and I look forward to its full implementation.”
But while the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Tribe and the state of Florida amid the federal challenge to the Gaming Compact agreed to in 2021, a state case remains pending.
The federal challenge wrestled with whether the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act bars gambling off tribal lands, given that mobile sports betting was part of the Gaming Compact. An appellate court found the federal act did not ban such behavior but merely regulates gaming operations on those lands.
The state-level challenge deals with a referendum approved by voters which requires voters to weigh in via a new referendum to expand gaming in Florida.
The referendum at issue, however, had an exception for expansions of gaming “on tribal lands.” Because the servers handling the mobile betting are on tribal lands, the state and the Seminole Tribe of Florida have argued the exception applies, and voters did not need to approve the Gaming Compact.
For now, however, the Tribe and the state are moving forward with the agreement with the federal issue settled.
“With the expansion of the new scope, we are creating over 1,000 new jobs made possible by the Compact,” said Jim Allen, CEO of Seminole Gaming and Chairman of Hard Rock International. “This is a historic milestone that immediately puts Florida in the same league with the world’s great gaming destinations.”
