Governor Ron DeSantis and Marcellus Osceola Jr ., chairman of the Seminole Tribe , signed a compact in April 2023 that gave the tribe exclusive rights to gaming in the state of Florida , including online sports betting
Hard Rock Bet , the sports betting app of the tribe , is off to a great start in Florida on the compact that had been imposed by Chief Justice John Roberts .
While the removal of the stay allows online sports betting and the other aspects of the compact to go into effect , it doesn ’ t stop the challenge from West Flagler . Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the compact “ raises serious equal protection issues ” but nonetheless removed the stay . He questioned whether the gaming is occurring off-reservation despite the failure of the Department of the Interior to block the compact .
“ The state law ’ s constitutionality is not squarely presented in this application , and the Florida Supreme Court is in any event currently considering state-law issues related to the tribe ’ s potential off-reservation gaming operations ,” Kavanaugh wrote .
“ The denial of the stay by the U . S . Supreme Court is very good news ,” said Gary Bitner , a spokesman for the tribe . “ The Seminole Tribe of Florida is heartened by this decision .”
Allen was pleased that the stay was lifted but was more circumspect when it comes to the legal case .
“ We want to be very cautious about where we are in the legal process ,” he told GGB . “ We certainly acknowledge and understand that there is still a pending case in the Florida Supreme Court , and then separately we do not know if the United States Supreme Court will take up the case in regards to the definitional side of the scope . They unanimously ruled in our favor not allowing the plaintiffs any emergency injunctive relief , but the case will go on .”
For Florida , the tribe will pay $ 2.5 billion over the next five years and as much as $ 6 billion over the next 30 years for exclusivity in gaming and sports betting in the state .
Working the Process
While the Seminoles were able to take in-person sports wagers at their South Florida casinos for the past two years , they were not able to accept any mobile bets off reservation because of the challenge to the compact . Once the stay was lifted , it only took a couple of weeks to get Hard Rock Bet up and running .
“ The first thing that we ’ re very proud of — and we recognize these things move up and down at times — if we look at the national rankings of all the apps associated with sports betting and iGaming , Hard Rock Bet is No . 1 ,” Allen says . “ That ’ s from the patrons not associated with Hard Rock , so we ’ re very excited about that . The platform has been literally amazing . It has held up perfectly and really has done some great things from a compliance standpoint . And candidly , the volumes are what I think most people would anticipate — it ’ s very strong here in the state of Florida .”
But it ’ s not as if Hard Rock hadn ’ t been preparing for this over the last several years . Allen says the company has been investigating iGaming and sports betting for many years . In 2020 , the company established Hard Rock
Digital and hired the team that made PokerStars such a force in online gaming in the early part of the 21st century .
Rafi Ashkenazi was hired as the Hard Rock Digital executive managing director and executive chair . Marlon Goldstein became executive managing director and CEO , while Matt Primeaux was named executive managing director and president and his brother Michael Primeaux is managing director , product at Hard Rock Digital . They joined Hard Rock Digital after selling PokerStars to Flutter and after serving their non-compete period .
“ They were really the brains behind the Stars Group , and in the most challenging times in the space when other companies were losing billions of dollars a year , they were making right around a billion dollars a year in EBIDTA ,” Allen says . “ Those guys have had an amazing history . Now we have ( more than ) 400 people in that company . We , Seminole Hard Rock , are the super majority owner , but they are the operators day-to-day , and are responsible for all of the technology and how all that works , obviously utilizing the global brand of Hard Rock .” Allen says the potential for Hard Rock Bet is unlimited . “ Hard Rock Digital also intends to pursue strategic branding and distribution opportunities both within the U . S . and globally ,” he says . “ In the U . S . alone , the potential future market size is estimated at $ 7 billion for sports betting and $ 14 billion for online gaming .”
In addition to Florida , Hard Rock Bet is also live for sports betting in
MARCH 2024 www . ggbmagazine . com 15