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More than four months after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up a challenge to a gaming compact that granted the Seminole Tribe exclusive rights to operate online sports betting in Florida, the tribe and its opponents have agreed to end all litigation.

West Flagler Associates and the Seminole Tribe announced an agreement on Monday (October 28). Under the agreement, the parties will refrain from any future litigation regarding the tribe’s operations under its landmark 2021 gaming compact and instead begin a new partnership to offer Jai Alai wagering early in 2025 on the Hard Rock Bet app.

An announcement specifically stated that both parties were ending all legal challenges “now and in the future”, leading some legal observers to believe it could open the door to the Seminole Tribe offering online casino games in Florida in the future.

“That’s how I read it,” Robert Jarvis, professor of law at Shepard Broad College of Law at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, told 91����ԭ�� GamblingCompliance in an email.

“Of course, the tribe will have to go back and renegotiate with the state, which could take years and will face more political headwinds than sports betting did,” Jarvis said.

“But clearly, full mobile gaming is the goal of every operator, and it would be foolish, in the light of their track record, to think the Seminoles won’t ultimately strike a deal with the state for it.”

With legal disputes over the validity of online gambling under a tribal gaming compact now resolved, Jarvis added that the real question hanging over a potential addition of online casino games would be valuation.

“How much is full mobile betting worth?” he added. “In other words, what will the state demand in terms of payment from the Seminoles?”

As for the potential of the Seminoles launching iGaming in the future, Samir Patel, an attorney with Holland & Knight in Miami, similarly noted that Monday's joint press release saw the parties agree to refrain from engaging in any future litigation with respect to the tribe’s gaming operations.

“So theoretically, if the Seminole Tribe were to push for online casino gaming in the future, the press release would seem to indicate that a legal agreement is in place between the parties that precludes the West Flagler Parties from bringing litigation aimed at the Seminole Tribes online gaming expansion,” Patel told 91����ԭ��.

“That’s not to say that the Seminole Tribe have a clear path to launch online casino gaming; on the contrary,” Patel added. “The Seminole Tribe would still need the support of the governor, state politicians and Florida residents.” 

Besides renegotiating its compact to include new provisions to allow online casino games, Patel stressed that the tribe would also need the state to extend the tribe's exclusivity to include online gaming.

“As of right now, the [Seminole] Tribe has pledged more than $750m derived from its online sportsbook revenue to the state to use for environmental conservation,” Patel said.  “The state stands to gain a windfall of taxable revenue from the Seminole Tribe if the tribe were to operate a legal online casino.”

Patel also noted how the agreement will involve the Seminole Tribe offering sports-betting markets on Jai Alai games, which are largely run in Florida through West Flager's affiliated World Jai Alai League.

“This could also indicate the West Flagler Parties may be warming to the idea of having a Hard Rock sportsbook on-site at their casinos and pari-mutuel locations,” Patel added.

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition from West Flagler and Bonita-Fort Myers to overturn online sports betting in Florida, after the two gaming operators filed a lawsuit questioning the legality of a 2021 gaming compact negotiated between Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and the tribe.

The first-of-its-kind compact allows for the Seminole Tribe to offer mobile sports betting throughout Florida through a so-called “hub and spoke” model in which all wagers are accepted via servers on tribal land.

The petition was West Flager’s final chance before the federal courts to overturn a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in June 2023 that reversed a federal judge’s earlier decision that the compact violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) by authorizing the Seminoles to conduct off-reservation sports betting.

West Flagler and Bonita also claimed the compact was impermissible under state law because it violated Amendment 3 of the Florida Constitution, which was approved by voters in 2018 and requires a public referendum to expand casino gaming in the state.

“This agreement ends years of disputes between the Seminole Tribe and the West Flagler parties and avoids future litigation over the Seminole Tribe’s gaming operations,” Jim Allen, CEO of Seminole Gaming, said in a statement. 

Allen noted that the agreement will allow all parties to “work together to promote Jai Alai, which has played an important role in Florida’s gaming landscape for nearly 100 years”.

Isadore Havenick, owner of West Flagler, said the deal will allow the company to develop a strong partnership with the Seminoles.