The same day the Seminole Tribe of Florida relaunched Hard Rock Bet in the state, West Flagler filed a motion with the state Supreme Court to suspend the app in the state.
“Taking advantage of the distraction created by their carefully crafted announcement on November 1, the Tribe has sought to surprise the Petitioners and this Court by presenting a ‘“’fait 3 accompli’”’ on November 7th. It has indeed taken live bets as of today,” West Flagler wrote in its motion.
West Flagler is asking the court to expedite its writs of jurisdiction and immediately request Hard Rock Bet go offline and stop serving Florida bettors. In past cases, the state courts have intervened in matters out of a desire to preserve the status quo around a given case.
The motion argues that, even if only online as long as it takes for the case to reach a resolution, the relaunch of Hard Rock Bet causes irreparable harm to both the plaintiff and the state:
“The extraordinary actions of Respondents to side-step the will of the citizens of Florida and the Florida Constitution, enabling the Tribe’s actions, mandates the immediate exercise of the Court’s “all writs” power as requested in the Petition. Absent an order suspending the offending provisions of the Implementing Law, the Court will be deprived of its ability to afford complete relief in this proceeding. The damage caused by even a few months of sports betting in violation of the Florida Constitution will be irreparable.”
Last month, the court granted an extension to the state to file its response to West Flagler’s initial complaint and the amicus brief filed by No Casinos Inc. Given that the state has until Dec. 1 to respond, there will likely be no resolution in the case until well into 2024. With that timeline, West Flagler is hoping the court will intervene now rather than wait until the case reaches a resolution.
