Judge overturns Florida law that allows online sports betting – CBSSports.com

A federal judge has overturned Florida's sports betting deal with the Seminole Tribe. It was ruled that the sports betting plan was in violation of both the Florida state constitution and federal Indian gambling law. United States District Judge Dabney Friedrich is the one who ruled to stop the Seminole Tribe's online sports betting plan, which had launched on Nov. 1.

According to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, the Seminole Tribe, which has an online sports gambling operation through Hard Rock Sportsbook in the state,filed an appeal on the decision on Tuesday. Friedrich's ruling specifically called out that sports betting is allowed to occur in the state from any device through the servers on Seminole tribal land.

According to Friedrich, the part about the location of the servers violates the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

The winners of this ruling, for now, are "family-owned businesses," such as Magic City Casino, which gave the following quote to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune:

"Last night's ruling was a victory for family-owned businesses like ours who pay their fair share in taxes and believe the free market should guide the business operations of gaming venues. The judge clearly understood the blatant violation of IGRA as her ruling demonstrates. We look forward to working with the Governor, Legislature, and the citizens of Florida to pave a path forward that ensures a fair gaming marketplace exists in Florida."

This latest drama surrounding legal online sports gambling did not come as a shock to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

"We anticipated that this could happen," he said on Wednesday, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, after previously admitting that only allowing online gambling via the servers on specific land was "an unsettled legal issue."

Even with this new ruling, people in Florida were still able to place online sports bets as of Wednesday morning.

Regardless, for now, the future of sports betting in the state of Florida is unclear.

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Judge overturns Florida law that allows online sports betting - CBSSports.com