In a surprise move, the Seminole Tribe relaunched a limited version of its Florida online sports betting app Tuesday despite two ongoing court cases attempting to thwart its online wagering monopoly.
In a statement, Seminole spokesman Gary Bitner said the tribe was “offering limited access to existing Florida customers to test its Hard Rock Bet platform.” A page on the app offers potential “early access” to those who placed a sports bet with Hard Rock in 2021 or were members of its Unity loyalty program, and some accounts dating to that period were able to be activated.
An attempt to create a new account on the Hard Rock Bet app resulted in a page stating, “We couldn’t verify your identity,” adding that customer support staff would follow up within 24 to 48 hours.
The move was an unexpected one, said Bob Jarvis, a law professor and gambling expert at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, especially after the tribe revealed last week that gamblers will be able to place sports bets in person at their six casinos starting in December, as well as for craps and roulette, without mentioning online wagering.
“That was already a bold move, given that the lawsuits are still going on both in the federal courts and the state courts,” Jarvis said, “… It doesn’t make any sense, frankly, for them to be doing this while there are still judges and justices who are yet to weigh in on the legality of mobile sports betting.”
The 2021 gambling pact brokered by Gov. Ron DeSantis allowed the Seminoles to offer online wagering to anyone 21 or older within the boundaries of Florida, due to the servers being located on tribal land. Location software would determine whether a gambler is, in fact, in Florida.
In exchange, the Seminoles agreed to pay $2.5 billion to the state over the next five years and potentially billions more in the future.
But two competing gambling operators — West Flagler Associates and Bonita-Fort Myers Corp. — filed a federal lawsuit arguing the deal violates the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act by allowing gambling outside of tribal lands, despite the servers’ location.
A separate lawsuit before the state Supreme Court focuses on an amendment to the Florida Constitution that requires voters to approve any expansion of gambling in the state.
The suits led to a pause in online wagering after the Hard Rock app had been active for just 34 days in 2021.
Jarvis said he expected one or more of the plaintiffs to ask the state Supreme Court for a stay that would again force the tribe to shut down the app. But the decision to launch it amid the legal battle could indicate a new strategy, he said.
“It was my assumption all along that the Seminoles were being very patient and that they would not want to do anything that would jeopardize their chances in either the federal courts or the state courts,” Jarvis said. “This is just a completely different approach.”
But, he said, “There is a theory that … you are better off being up and running because it is harder for a court to stop a business that is up and running because, of course, it impacts both workers and customers. So maybe that’s the Seminoles’ thinking.”
John Sowinski, who heads the anti-gambling organization No Casinos that filed a brief supporting the Florida lawsuit, said the state and the tribe “can’t rely on this bogus argument that someone wagering on an iPhone in downtown Orlando is actually [making a bet] taking place on tribal lands.”
He said he did not know if the plaintiffs would ask for a stay, however. Attorneys for West Flagler did not return a request for comment.
After a favorable court ruling in June, the Twitter/X account for Hard Rock Sportsbook, part of the casino chain owned by the tribe, posted a video of WWE wrestler The Undertaker, thought “dead,” opening his eyes.
On Tuesday, the account posted a video of The Undertaker bursting out of his coffin.
