If you are a fan of sports betting and live in the state of Florida, you might be ticked off by the court ruling from Saturday.
The Seminole Tribe’s Hard Rock Sportsbook announced on Saturday that there would be an immediate suspension of its operation in Florida. This result comes after an appelate ruling by the court that rejected a request to continue its online sports betting as it tries to resolve and overturn a lower court decision.
This news is terrible for the people who reside in Florida and enjoy spending their money on online sports betting. There is concern regarding money that is won during this time period, but that shouldn’t be an issue after the statement by the Hard Rock Sportsbook.
“Player information and account funds are safe and secure, and the app will remain online for easy withdrawals via all payment methods,” stated on the Hard Rock Sportsbook twitter page. This is a sense of relief for those who has fears that their information could become public information after the sports betting shutdown.
You also don’t need to worry about the funds in your accounts because Gary Bitner, the tribe’s spokesperson, said in a statement to the Times/Herald that “account balances for all current players will be refunded as requested.” This is great news because there was fearing going around that the funds in your account wouldn’t be refunded if the app got shutdown.
Hard Rock Sportsbook stated that the suspension applies to all new bets and new accounts. However, if you had a bet that was started before 11 a.m. on December 4th, 2021, your bet would run and be settled per usual. There was bound to be an uproar over this because people place bets in advance and people surely would have won during this time period. Not giving people the money they deserved would have provided many legal and financial issues because of this. This was smart thinking on the side of Hard Rock Sportsbook for allowing the players to continue their bets that started before that issued time.
Any bets that occurred after that time frame, however, would be voided and the bet amount would be refunded to the user. This might drive some people crazy because there are some bets out there that would have one after the shutdown time frame, but that is just the nature of the situation of this issue.
If you are a fan of betting, it might be some time before you are able to resume these activities because of two lawsuits that are going on currently. The lawsuits were brought on by West Flager Associates, the owners of Magic City Casino and Bonita Springs Poker Room. Things were looking smooth before these lawsuits.
November 22, 2021, Judge Dabney L. Friedrich of the U.S District Court invalidated the 30-year, multibillion dollar gambling agreement with the state of Florida. The Tribe agreed to pay 2.5 billion over the first five years in exchange for a monopoly over the gambling in Florida.
This could get ugly on all sides as this looks to get resolved in the upcoming months. There is no timetable for when this could be resolved so bettors will have to look for other ways to fill their gambling needs.
Also Read: Florida Landlord Faces Murder Charge for Killing and Burying His Tenants’ Body in His Back Yard
