Less than 24 hours after a pair of sports betting legislation in the state, the Florida Supreme Court granted the extension.
DeSantis et al now must file a response by Dec. 1, 11 days after West Flagler and Associates (WFA) has promised to file a similar case with the U.S. Supreme Court. The Florida Supreme Court did warn the DeSantis group not to request additional extensions, writing, “Multiple extensions of time for the same filing are discouraged. Absent extenuating circumstances, subsequent requests may be denied.”
Friday’s decision is the latest in the state court case in which WFA is seeking a ruling that says that DeSantis and the legislature went beyond their power in negotiating and agreeing to a compact that would give the Seminole Tribe a monopoly on legal retail and digital sports betting. The case also seeks to have the compact declared invalid. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act governs gambling on tribal land, and the compact attempts to extend that provision by having bets placed anywhere in the state deemed to be on Indian land if they flow through a server located on tribal land.
The order came one day after WFA filed a response in Florida Supreme Court saying that DeSantis et al should not be entitled to a 30-day extension. Hours after the DeSantis team filed a brief arguing that its workload is too heavy to meet a Nov. 1 deadline set by the court, WFA called the arguments “misplaced.”
In its U.S. Supreme Court order, but that could change depending on how the U.S. Supreme Court decides to handle the request for a stay or if it chooses not to hear the case when it is filed next month. West Flagler lawyers have set a self-imposed Nov. 20 deadline to file with the U.S. Supreme Court.
WFA: We filed in expedited way on purpose b5359
West Flagler lawyers filed in Florida Supreme Court in late September after exhausting all federal court options other than the U.S. Supreme Court. At the federal level, a U.S. District Court found in favor of WFA while an appellate court did not. WFA chose to test the federal court system before the state, and writes as much in its recent response.
WFA lawyers wrote that because the petition questions the authority of the executive and legislative branches, it intentionally filed quo warranto, which is an expedited filing. Lawyers for the parimutuel went on to argue that a delay based on workload should have been noted earlier in the process and is not a meaningful reason. The court did grant an extension for No Casinos to file its amicus brief, but WFA notes that the DeSantis group did not ask for an extension related to anything in that brief.
