Another Lawsuit Threatens Gambling Expansion
Miami’s most outspoken critics of gambling, developer Armando Codina and auto retailer Norman Braman, have filed suit to prevent the Seminoles from expanding gambling through mobile sports betting in the Sunshine State. Braman operates one of the largest and most successful auto dealerships in South Florida.
The lawsuit against U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland alleges that the federal government “improperly allowed the State of Florida to circumvent” the state Constitution when it approved the gaming compact between the state and the Seminole Tribe of Florida and illegally authorized off-reservation sports betting in violation of federal law.
The lawsuit also accuses Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature violated federal Indian gaming law and the federal Wire Act “by authorizing gambling outside of Indian lands and by allowing the use of the Internet or interstate payment transmissions where sports betting is illegal.”
The lawsuit also claims that the compact violates the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act because by allowing the tribe to enter into partnerships with parimutuels to handle their sports books, it unlawfully “sought to ‘enrich non-tribal’ interests rather than ‘protect the sovereign rights and interests of Native American Tribes and Peoples.’ "
