Seminole Tribe Sues DraftKings for Running Illegal Sports Betting in Florida
The battle over sports betting rights in Florida is heading to court, with the Seminole Tribe defending its exclusive rights to sports gambling in the state.
The Seminole Tribe is suing DraftKings and CEO Jason Robins, claiming the company violated Florida’s 2021 Gaming Compact and is operating an illegal sports betting business. The complaint also names GUS III LLC, which does business as DraftKings Predictions.
Through the 30-year 2021 gaming compact, the Seminole Tribe has the rights to run sports betting in Florida. In return for the monopoly, the tribe must give billions of dollars back to the state of Florida.
The 72-page lawsuit, filed Thursday in Broward County Circuit Court, claims DraftKings’ Florida ventures violate state law and operate identically to its sportsbooks in other regulated states.
“Every wager that [DraftKings] now accept through their illegal sportsbook siphons away revenue that funds both the Tribe’s and Florida’s public programs and government services; diverts betting from Florida’s regulated system into an underground, unregulated, and outlawed book; and deprives the Floridian who places such a bet of the consumer protections guaranteed by Florida law,” the lawsuit says.
The Tribe alleges DraftKings is using its Pick6 product and its “Super App” to act like a conventional sportsbook without the company holding a Florida sports betting license.
The court is being asked to shut down DraftKings’ Florida operations, including the Pick6 and Super App products the Tribe objects to, with the Tribe arguing there is no difference between the Florida product and one in a state where DraftKings holds a sports betting license.
Along with shutting down DraftKings in Florida, the Tribe wants an injunction barring DraftKings from advertising and operating in the state, along with the surrender of profits earned through its Florida operations and nominal damages.
In the lawsuit, the Tribe also accuses DraftKings of secretly funding multiple lawsuits from 2021 to 2025 aimed at attacking the gaming compact. DraftKings had also previously tried to break into Florida’s betting market through a 2021 push for a constitutional amendment that never made the 2022 ballot.
“Having failed to change Florida law through the ballot box and the courts, DraftKings … has now pivoted to proceeding as though the law, the Compact, and the Tribe’s exclusive rights simply do not exist,” the lawsuit said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis was asked about the lawsuit and the gaming compact at a press conference in Miami on Thursday morning.
“I haven’t read the thing, I just heard about it this morning,” DeSantis said. “But I think our agreement clearly contemplated that they would have the ability to run this in Florida.”
DeSantis also said the argument over whether prediction markets like DraftKings constitute gambling most likely cannot be solved at the state level.
“That is going to be a huge issue, I think probably not solvable at the state level because it is happening all over the country,” DeSantis said. “For us, we kind of have our compact. If there are things that are violating the compact … The prediction market is kind of outside our agreement.”
The claims have not been tested in court. A DraftKings spokesperson said the company’s prediction markets offering operates in accordance with applicable law and federal regulation, and that DraftKings remains confident in its legal position.
Category: Sports Betting
