{"id":422443,"date":"2026-10-08T18:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T18:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/422443\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T18:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T18:08:08","slug":"seminole-tribe-sues-draftkings-alleges-illegal-florida-sports-betting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/422443\/","title":{"rendered":"Seminole Tribe sues DraftKings, alleges illegal Florida sports betting"},"content":{"rendered":"

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 The Seminole Tribe of Florida is suing DraftKings and its CEO, Jason Robins, alleging the company is illegally offering sports betting in Florida.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Broward County Circuit Court, targets DraftKings\u2019 Pick6 product and its \u201cDraftKings Sports & Casino\u201d Super App.<\/p>\n

The Tribe <\/a>is asking a judge to stop DraftKings from offering or advertising sports wagering in Florida. It also seeks to recover profits the company made from the products, along with attorneys\u2019 fees and other relief.<\/p>\n

What the Tribe alleges<\/p>\n

The Tribe alleges DraftKings <\/a>is operating an unlicensed sportsbook in Florida by offering game lines, point spreads, over\/unders, player propositions and parlays through its app.<\/p>\n

The complaint argues the products are sports betting, even though DraftKings describes parts of the service as prediction markets or event contracts.<\/p>\n

The Tribe also alleges the offerings compete with Hard Rock Bet, the Tribe\u2019s mobile platform. Under Florida\u2019s 2021 gaming compact, the Seminole Tribe has the exclusive right to offer statewide online sports betting.<\/p>\n

DraftKings does not hold a Florida sportsbook license, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Consumer protections at issue<\/p>\n

The Tribe said Florida\u2019s system includes safeguards such as age verification, problem-gambling resources, state oversight and restrictions on some bets, including college player-proposition wagers.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges DraftKings\u2019 products operate outside that regulated system and divert betting revenue from the state and Tribe.<\/p>\n

The Tribe said it would prioritize any money recovered in the case for Florida consumer-protection efforts and problem-gambling treatment and recovery programs.<\/p>\n

The legal claims<\/p>\n

The lawsuit accuses DraftKings of violating Florida gambling laws, unfair competition and the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.<\/p>\n

It also brings a Florida RICO claim against Robins, alleging he directed the company\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

The Tribe alleges DraftKings secretly financed previous legal challenges to the compact. Those challenges were unsuccessful, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

Long-running fight over sports betting<\/p>\n

The lawsuit is the latest chapter in Florida\u2019s years-long sports-betting fight.<\/p>\n

See also: Ex-CIA agent who stole $194M used $102M to buy Palm Beach, Hobe Sound properties<\/a><\/p>\n

The 2021 compact gave the Seminole Tribe exclusive rights to operate online sports betting in Florida, with wagers processed through servers on tribal land. In exchange, the Tribe agreed to make at least $2.5 billion in payments to the state during the compact\u2019s first five years.<\/p>\n

Previous challenges from pari-mutuel operators failed. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2024 declined to take up a challenge to the compact, and Hard Rock Bet later returned to Florida. CBS12 News also has reported on the emergence of prediction markets, which have raised new questions about how online sports-related products should be regulated in Florida.<\/p>\n

DraftKings had not filed a response in the case as of Thursday morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 The Seminole Tribe of Florida is suing DraftKings and its CEO, Jason…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-422443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}