On October 25, 2023, the Supreme Court declined a request by two Florida-based casinos to halt a prior decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that permitted a Native American tribe to accept online sports bets. This request was part of a larger effort by the casinos to secure Supreme Court review of the appeals court’s ruling. The decision by the Supreme Court to maintain the status quo was shared in a brief, unsigned order, demonstrating no public dissents amongst the justices.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh expressed his thoughts on the court’s refusal to pause the decision, indicating his agreement with the refusal and cautioning that the effect of the court’s order was comprised.
The litigation centers around the Indian Regulatory Gaming Act (IGRA), established in 1988. This law delineates a framework for gambling on tribal lands requiring tribes to establish an agreement, or compact, with the respective state government in order to offer casino games and sports betting. Federal-level approval is also necessary from the Secretary of the Interior, considered granted if no action is taken within a 45-day window.
In 2021, the Seminole Tribe in Florida, and the state government, conformed to a compact to allow the tribe to run online sports betting for any person located in Florida, not limited to tribal lands. The Secretary of the Interior under the Biden administration, Deb Haaland, did not take action on this compact, thus, tacitly approving it in August 2021.
This led two brick-and-mortar casinos located near the tribal-operated casinos to file a federal lawsuit, challenging the Secretary’s inaction. The casinos attested that IGRA only allows for gaming on tribal lands, and further claimed the compact violated federal laws due to its authorization of online gambling. They also contested that the compact infringed on the Constitution’s mandate for equal treatment, because it enables the tribe to provide online sports betting, a service that if provided by others could lead to criminal liability.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich sided with the casinos, ruling that the compact’s approval should be set aside as it contravened the IGRA by permitting non-tribal-land sports betting. The D.C. Circuit, however, reversed this decision in June, reinstating the compact. This court contended that despite IGRA’s limitation of compacts to tribal lands for gaming, it is not prohibitive of compacts addressing other subjects, inclusive of gaming outside of tribal lands.
The two casinos then sought the Supreme Court’s intervention on October 6th, citing the issue of potentially millions of sports betting transactions violating state and federal law if the Supreme Court did not intervene. Representing the Secretary of the Interior, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, stressed that the compact only gave the tribe the authority to operate sports betting on tribal lands but did not hold that the compact authorized intra-state gaming. Justice Kavanaugh agreed that the compact only authorized gambling on tribal lands.
The ruling is a significant development in the ongoing issues surrounding the legislation of online sports betting and provides a degree of clarity on the interaction of federal, state, and tribal law in relation to this issue. The debate will likely continue, and legal professionals worldwide will be keenly watching the interplay between state, federal, and tribal jurisdictions.