Oddly the app is still working for me right now. I placed one bet on the Yale game at noon but emptied the account for now. Funds hit my PayPal in seconds, so you may want to get your money out while you can.
from Politico FL
Breaking overnight — A federal court has handed Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Seminole Tribe of Florida a sizable defeat. In a ruling that landed late Monday, a federal judge struck down the state’s $2.5 billion deal with the tribe and brought an end to sports betting in the nation’s third largest state.
Not allowed — U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich with the District of Columbia said the compact was illegal because it allowed people to place sports bets anywhere in the state in violation of federal laws governing gambling on Indian lands. The ruling came in reaction to twin lawsuits filed by rival casino owners, longtime South Florida gambling opponents, and a statewide anti-gambling group.
Voters still have control — Friedrich’s ruling also sided with gambling opponents by saying the only way sports betting could be allowed outside of tribal lands in Florida is through a citizen initiative. Voters in 2018 approved an amendment — backed by the Seminole Tribe and Disney — that said voters must approve any future expansions of casino gambling.
Logic rejected — The GOP-controlled Legislature and DeSantis sidestepped that amendment by insisting the new compact was legal because the actual processing of bets occurred on tribal lands even though someone could use a mobile app anywhere in the state. Friedrich said she could not accept this “fiction” and added that “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.”
Thrown out entirely — DeSantis personally lobbied lawmakers to muscle this latest deal through, which also authorized the tribe to add craps and roulette to its current casinos and build additional casinos on the tribe’s Hollywood reservation that is already home to Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. But Friedrich — an appointee of former President Donald Trump — vacated the entire new compact approved in May.
Where to go from here? — That means everything is on hold and legislators and the governor must now scramble to figure out what happens next. Daniel Wallach, a gambling expert and Florida lawyer, told the Miami Herald that the state could appeal but he does not expect them to win.
Another winner could emerge — The decision is a big boost for DraftKings and FanDuel, which is already racing to place its own sports betting citizen initiative on the 2022 ballot. The group has poured $32 million into the effort but has only a few more weeks to gather the nearly 900,000 signatures it needs to qualify. State records show that Florida Education Champions — the official group behind the effort — has gotten slightly more than 116,000 signatures verified.
— WHERE'S RON? — Gov. DeSantis will hold a press conference in Fort Lauderdale at a Florida Department of Transportation district office.