ORLANDO, Fla. – Place your bets.
After two years of legal drama, the Seminole Tribe made its Hard Rock Bet app available to some Florida users Tuesday.
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A Tribe spokesman confirmed to News 6 that limited access to the Hard Rock Bet platform was now available to existing Florida customers as a way to test the platform.
The only Floridians currently able to use the Hard Rock Bet app are people who used the app when it first went live in Florida in 2021, and anyone who was an existing member of the Unity by Hard Rock loyalty program.
Anyone else must get on a waiting list to gain early access when the app is ready to go live to all Floridians, according to the Seminole Hard Rock website. It’s not known when that may happen.
Seminole Hard Rock started hosting online sports betting in Florida in 2021, after the Tribe signed a historic compact with the state of Florida. Under the 30-year deal, the Tribe got control over sports betting and was allowed to add craps and roulette to its casinos. In exchange, the Tribe would pay the state at least $2.5 billion over the first five years.
But West Flagler Associates and Bonita-Fort Myers Corp., owners of casinos and poker rooms in South Florida, sued to stop the deal, and the Tribe was forced to stop online sports betting in Florida.
However, earlier this year an appeals court ruled in The Tribe’s favor, and the U.S. Supreme Court last month said it would not issue a stay on the compact while West Flagler Associates and Bonita-Fort Myers Corp. prepared to ask the Supreme Court to hear the case. That formal petition is due by Nov. 20.
The two companies are also asking the Florida Supreme Court to take up the case, claiming the compact violates a 2018 constitutional amendment that required any expansion of gaming in Florida to be approved by the voters.
In the meantime, the Seminole Tribe says it will launch craps, roulette and in-person sports betting at its Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casinos across Florida in December.
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