On October 25, Chief Justice John Roberts turned down an emergency application for a stay from West Flagler, as reported by the official Supreme Court blog. Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh expressed his agreement with this decision, stating, "I agree that the stay application should be denied in light of the DC Circuit’s pronouncement that the compact between Florida and the Seminole tribe authorizes the tribe to conduct only on-reservation gaming operations and not off-reservation gaming operations." He further explained that if the compact allowed off-reservation gaming operations, directly or indirectly treating them as on-reservation, it would likely violate the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, according to the District Court's reasoning.
West Flagler has until December 11 to file a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court. Certiorari is a higher court's order to review a case that has been initially tried in a lower court.
The Supreme Court's denial limits the Seminole tribe's ability to initiate sports betting through Hard Rock Bet in the future. This had previously been authorized in April 2021 when Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis, approved a gaming compact granting the tribe exclusive rights to offer sports betting in the state.
However, the launch of Hard Rock Bet came to a halt in December 2021 after a ruling from the District of Columbia that found the Seminole tribe’s compact violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). This ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by West Flagler and Bonita-Fort Myers, questioning whether statewide online sports betting offered through servers on tribal land could be considered as betting conducted on tribal land.
In a turn of events, the DC District Court of Appeals reversed the previous ruling in June 2023, restoring the Seminoles' authority in Florida.
West Flagler has been embroiled in legal disputes since then. In August, it sought a rehearing in a case it lost against Debra Haaland, Secretary of the Interior. The Circuit Court judges dismissed West Flagler's claim that Haaland had violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to act on the approved compact within the required 45 days.
In September, West Flagler also challenged DeSantis and the Florida legislature, asserting that DeSantis had exceeded his authority by endorsing the compact. Nevertheless, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately denied West Flagler’s motion for rehearing, prompting the company to file a motion to stay in anticipation of appealing to the Supreme Court.
The Department of the Interior contested the motion to stay, claiming West Flagler's application did not meet the requirements for certiorari. Consequently, the DC Circuit denied the stay motion. Undeterred, West Flagler and Bonita-Fort Myers approached the Supreme Court earlier this month, requesting a prohibition on the Seminole tribe's rollout of Hard Rock Bet, which initially led to a temporary stay granted by the Supreme Court.
