TALLAHASSEE – As they wage a two-front battle in opposition to the Seminole Tribe providing on-line sports activities betting statewide, two pari-mutuel firms are in search of extra time to make their case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Lawyers for West Flagler Associates and Bonita-Fort Myers Corp. on Monday requested Chief Justice John Roberts to increase a deadline for submitting a petition and mentioned the U.S. Supreme Court case could possibly be affected by a separate sports-betting challenge filed on the Florida Supreme Court.

The two circumstances contain totally different authorized points and totally different defendants, however the pari-mutuel firms are attempting to make use of a minimum of one of many challenges to dam sports activities betting that was included in a 2021 playing deal between the state and the tribe.

West Flagler and Bonita-Fort Myers Corp. need the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a case filed in opposition to the U.S. Department of the Interior over whether or not the sports-betting a part of the deal violates a federal legislation referred to as the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, or IGRA, as a result of it authorizes playing off tribal lands.

The Department of the Interior, which oversees Indian gaming, allowed the playing deal, referred to as a compact, to maneuver ahead. A panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia backed the division in June.

Meanwhile, the businesses have filed a case on the Florida Supreme Court contending that permitting the tribe to supply on-line sports activities betting statewide violates a 2018 state constitutional modification that required voter approval of on line casino playing.

In the request Monday to Roberts, attorneys for West Flagler and Bonita Fort-Myers Corp. sought to push again a deadline from Dec. 11 to Feb. 9 for submitting a petition, a minimum of partially due to the Florida Supreme Court case.

“If the Florida Supreme Court rules in applicant’s (the pari-mutuel companies’) favor in connection with the state petition, such ruling will impact the scope of applicants’ petition for a writ of certiorari (the petition for the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case),” the request mentioned.

The request additionally mentioned that “if the Florida Supreme Court denies or fails to rule in applicant’s favor, the important statutory and constitutional issues raised by the circuit opinion (the federal appeals court’s opinion) would certainly remain.”

The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 25 rejected a request by the pari-mutuel firms to challenge a keep of the appeals-court ruling whereas they ready a petition. After that call, the tribe introduced Nov. 1 that it might start permitting sports activities betting at its casinos in December. It went additional Nov. 7 by saying it might additionally take on-line sports activities bets from a restricted group of gamblers.

The Florida Supreme Court on Friday rejected a request by the pari-mutuel firms to “immediately suspend the sports betting provisions” of a legislation that carried out the playing deal. That resolution, nonetheless, didn’t resolve the underlying authorized points within the state-court case, which names as defendants Gov. Ron DeSantis and legislative leaders.

The deal, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Seminole Tribe of Florida Chairman Marcellus Osceola Jr. and ratified by the Legislature, allowed the Seminoles so as to add craps and roulette to their Florida casinos and add three casinos on tribal property in Broward County. In trade, the tribe agreed to pay the state a minimum of $2.5 billion over the primary 5 years and probably billions of {dollars} extra over the course of the pact.

But the important thing to the authorized battles is a part of the deal that permits gamblers to put cellular sports activities wagers anyplace within the state, with bets dealt with by pc servers on tribal property. The deal mentioned bets “using a mobile app or other electronic device, shall be deemed to be exclusively conducted by the tribe.”

The pari-mutuel firms, who say they are going to be harmed financially by the tribe having the ability to provide on-line sports activities betting, contend that the deal was structured to get across the 2018 constitutional modification requiring voter approval of on line casino playing – an argument they included in Monday’s request to Roberts.

West Flagler holds three jai alai licenses, whereas Bonita-Fort Myers Corp. does enterprise as Bonita Springs Poker Room in Southwest Florida.