Because the state allowed this monopoly to be 'easily evaded,' Hinkle ruled that the tribe could keep its blackjack tables for another 14 years. Rick Scott allowed dog and horse tracks to put in card games that mimicked ones that were supposed to be exclusive to tribe-owned casinos for a five-year period. Hinkle ruled that state regulators working under Gov. District Judge Robert Hinkle sided with the tribe in a yearlong legal tussle that could jeopardize payments the Seminoles now make to the state. The court ordered the Department of Interior to reinstate the agreement that gave the tribe and its Hard Rock casinos a monopoly on sports betting in Florida.TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/AP) - The Seminole Tribe of Florida, which runs some of the state's most popular and most profitable casinos, scored a major victory Wednesday after a federal judge ruled the tribe can keep blackjack tables at its gambling operations. In June, a federal appeals court reversed a November 2021 lower court decision that had ruled that the deal between the governor and the tribe violated federal Indian gaming law. It is the second attempt at invalidating the compact by the pari-mutuel companies. West Flagler and affiliates call the attempt to bypass the constitutional requirement a “transparent artifice” and they want the court to reject the DeSantis agreement and send the message that “a voter-approved constitutional amendment initiated by a citizens’ petition is the exclusive means by which off-reservation sports betting can be authorized in Florida,” the petition says.

To get around the Florida constitutional amendment, the agreement signed by DeSantis required the tribe to operate a so-called “hub-and-spoke” model for sports betting, which moves all online sports bets from players located in Florida but outside of tribal lands through the tribe’s servers. The lawsuit argues that because of a constitutional amendment overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2018, expansion of gambling in Florida cannot occur without voter approval and the sports betting provisions of the compact are unconstitutional unless voters approve it first in a statewide referendum. The 30-year agreement, known as a compact, allows anyone over the age of 21 anywhere in Florida to use a sports betting app on their phone to place a bet with the tribe, or through Florida pari-mutuels that contract with the tribe for that purpose.

Seminole hardrock monopoly on casinos