U.S. judge strikes down FL's Seminole Gaming Compact, deals blow to DeSantis

[TexasTowelie]

A federal judge has undone a signature achievement of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ time in office by invalidating the Seminole Gaming Compact, a deal between the state and the tribe that purported to OK statewide sports betting and bring billions of dollars to state coffers.

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington, D.C., ruled that Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, in allowing the gambling deal to take effect in August, violated the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), by allowing sports betting to take place throughout the state as long as the bets were processed by computer servers on tribal lands.

The state referred to that arrangement, with remote bets feeding into central servers, as “hub and spoke.”

But Friedrich ruled that the federal law defines ‘Indian lands’ literally.

“[A]lthough the compact deems all sports betting to occur at the location of the tribe’s sports book and supporting servers … this court cannot accept that fiction. When a federal statute authorizes an activity only at specific locations, parties may not evade that limitation by deeming their activity to occur where it, as a factual matter, does not,” Friedrich wrote in an opinion released Monday evening.

Read more: https://floridaphoenix.com/2021/11/23/u-s-judge-strikes-down-fls-seminole-gaming-compact-deals-blow-to-desantis/

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

1. Every blow against DeSantis is worth celebrating.

[wnylib]

2. Looks like a blow against Haaland, too,

who approved the allowed the arrangement.

[mitch96]

5. YES!! DeSatin needs death by 1000 cuts.. cut right cut left and then he can leave...nt

[multigraincracker]

3. What was the over/under

on tha court ruling?

[ancianita]

4. I'd prefer to think No Casinos is helping Haaland out. She might have okayed it with their legal

Last edited Sun Nov 28, 2021, 11:30 AM - Edit history (1)

plan in mind, to set up legal precedent so this DeSantis trick isn't played with other tribes in other states, so they don't become tools of mafia. Republicans in Florida are a mafia. DeSantistan is already full of 'fake spokes' middlemen who already rig voting and vote counts. Interception of wire transactions would be nothing for them.

I think Haaland would prefer to play the ruling as a blow, but I don't think she'd fight this. I prefer to think she's glad for this ruling.

No Casinos needs to keep the legal press on and push for state referenda only on all future gambling. Which probably won't happen, because DeSantis knows state referenda on gambling wouldn't pass. If he could, he'd be like Trump, play the people and hope they won't notice while he rakes in his cut.

[2naSalit]

7. +1

[Phoenix61]

6. Harland wasn't sworn in until March 16th.

I’m sure the previous administration had no problem ignoring the law. If Haaland had squashed the compact DeSatan would have shrieked like a stuck pig that Biden was out to screw Florida. Now it shows DeSatan for the greedy ass he is. They will never get enough votes to make gambling legal in the state especially since the passed legislation making it harder to pass citizen led initiatives.