Attempts to Enforce State Law in Florida

As we explained in our last post, Florida's options for enforcing the Florida Supreme Court decision are limited. Though the court held that the governor could not authorize banked card games as a matter of state constitutional law, this may not necessarily mean that the Seminoles have to stop offering table games at their Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Legally, the state must turn to the federal government, and politically, the state must decide whether it wants to risk hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue sharing.

The Isle Casino at Pompano Park, a private racino in Florida, brought suit in federal court to shut down the Seminoles' table games. But under IGRA, only a handful of suits are authorized. The statute says that a state or a tribe may sue to stop Class III gaming conducted in violation of a compact. And the federal courts have uniformly held that IGRA does not authorize a general private cause of action. So, being neither a state nor a tribe, the Isle Casino simply cannot sue to enforce IGRA -- which is exactly what the federal district court judge ruled.

The state's next move remains to be seen . . . . But in the meantime, both the Seminole Tribe and Gov. Crist have filed petitions for rehearing in the Florida Supreme Court.

Read more in this Florida Sun-Sentinel story.