The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe has joined the Southern Ute Indian Tribe in suing Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Colorado Division of Gaming director Christopher Scroder for their handling of tribal sports betting. In the process, they’re also asking to offer state-wide mobile sports betting like the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
In an amended filing to the US District Court for the District of Colorado, the Ute Mountain Tribe claims that the gaming board coerced potential vendors from working on its sportsbook app, corroborating assertions in the original document. In the original filing, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe claimed that the state had threatened vendor US Bookmaking and potential tech partner IGT with possible sanctions for working with the tribe. US Bookmaking subsequently exited the partnership.
From the updated complaint:
“The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe explored launching its own online sportsbook, as authorized under Tribal law, but was unable to do so. One of the primary reasons why it was unable to proceed was that its potential vendors declined to do business with it after receiving communication from (Colorado Division of Gaming) suggesting that participation could result in an enforcement action by the State.”
University of Colorado associate law professor Vanessa Racehorse told Colorado Public Radio that the Southern Ute complaint appeared to have merit.
Florida, Colorado and Tribal Mobile Re-Think
The tribes are asking the court to settle another point of contention with the state: whether the 1995 compacts they signed with Colorado allow them to offer online gambling beyond tribal lands. The Colorado deal grants tribes the right to offer any gambling options that are legal throughout the state. Sports betting launched there in 2020.
A landmark ruling on the 30-year compact between the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the state of Florida has changed how compacts are viewed.
After years of litigation in federal courts and an unsuccessful appeal by opponents to the US Supreme Court, the Seminoles were allowed to re-launch state-wide mobile sports betting through their Hard Rock Bet app using servers on tribal land.
The tacit approval of the Department of the Interior and eventually a federal court defeat of West Flagler Associates' bid to shut down the new, so-called hub-and-spoke model caused a reconsideration of tribal compacts by Native gambling operators nationally.
According to the Mountain Ute Tribe in court documents: “The Tribes are sovereign Indian nations that have occupied their homelands since time immemorial and, as such, enjoy a sovereign right to regulate their own commercial activities as they see fit, consistent with their binding Gaming Compacts with Colorado.”
Colorado is set up as the first test of whether the Seminoles' victory will represent a true paradigm shift.
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