Is sports betting legal in Florida? After ruling, here’s what’s next.

Sports betting is legal in Florida. For now.

A 2021 compact that gives the Seminole Tribe of Florida exclusive control of sports betting and other gambling expansions is moving forward after judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday reversed a lower court’s decision that invalidated the agreement.

Months of litigation and uncertainty have surrounded the $2.5 billion deal between the state and the tribe, prompting questions about whether the compact will survive the courts, and what it means for the future of gambling in Florida.

Here’s the immediate outlook.

What does the new compact do?

Previously, under a 2010 compact between Florida and the Seminole Tribe, only slot machines, some card games and raffles and drawings were allowed in casinos.

The 2021 gaming compact passed by the Legislature and approved by the Department of the Interior seeks to expand permitted games, adding sports betting, fantasy betting and table games like roulette and craps in casinos on tribal lands.

Anyone 21 or older can bet on professional, collegiate, Olympic and international sports and athletic events. All bets must be routed through the Seminole Tribe, the exclusive operator of sports betting in the state.

In return for exclusive operation of sports betting in the state for the next 30 years, the tribe will pay the state a minimum of $500 million annually, a number that will increase as the tribe’s profits expand.

If the latest ruling stands, Florida will join 37 other states where sports betting is legal, and pioneer a first-of-its-kind mobile gaming deal with a Native American tribe.

Why so much red tape?

Gambling regulations in the U.S. are complicated, especially in states like Florida, where commercial gambling is illegal but gambling on tribal land is allowed. Throw in the state lottery, the parimutuel casino and cruise industries, and you get “the most complicated gaming jurisdiction in the country,” said Marc Dunbar, who teaches gaming law at Florida State University.

A 1988 federal law known as the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act regulates casinos and other gambling operations on reservations and other tribal land. The federally recognized Seminole Tribe of Florida owns seven casinos in Florida, including Tampa’s Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, the largest in the state and fifth-largest in the nation.

Florida still has a say in what happens in those casinos, like what kinds of gambling are allowed. But the online betting aspect makes things more complicated.

The state claims that online sports betting was still taking place on tribal land since the servers were on tribal property. But in November 2021, a federal district court judge called this “fiction” and ruled against the agreement.

The agreement was invalidated and the state’s 2010 compact went back into effect.

Last week’s overturning from a D.C. circuit court, however, reversed that decision, arguing that federal gaming law was flexible enough to allow for Florida’s compact.

What happens next?

The Seminole Tribe is free to launch their Hard Rock Sportsbook betting app and implement roulette and craps into their casinos. But more litigation may be coming.

Tribe spokesperson Gary Bitner said in a statement that the tribe is “reviewing the decision to determine its next steps.”

Friday’s ruling “will not be the final word,” said John Sowinski, spokesperson for No Casinos, a Florida anti-gambling organization. And gambling opponents have launched separate federal lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., accusing the federal government of improperly approving the gaming compact.

No Casinos argues the expansion violates Amendment 3 to the Florida Constitution. Passed overwhelmingly in 2018 by Florida voters, the amendment hinders the Legislature’s ability to expand gambling in the state. It gives voters the exclusive right to authorize further casino gambling in Florida.

But there’s a limitation. New tribal compacts, like the one in 2021, don’t fall under Amendment 3. As it stands, if the state can strike deals with the Seminole Tribe that involve expanding gambling in the state, voters don’t get a say.

West Flagler Associates, the group that brought the initial lawsuit against the compact, could appeal up to the Supreme Court. But both of these avenues at the state level and at the Supreme Court will likely fall on deaf ears, according to Dunbar.

“The D.C. circuit nailed it,” Dunbar said. “It’s going to be difficult to overcome.”