On Friday, DraftKings fired back at the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s lawsuit, insisting its products obey federal law and aren’t illegal sports betting.
A DraftKings spokesperson defended the lineup, pointing out that its prediction products fall under federal market oversight, not state gambling rules.
“DraftKings’ prediction markets offering operates in accordance with applicable law and the federal regulatory framework established under the Commodity Exchange Act,” a DraftKings spokesperson said Friday. “Furthermore, DraftKings Pick6 is a peer-to‑peer fantasy sports variant centered on a simple ‘more or less’ mechanic tied to individual athlete performance metrics and is not sports betting. While the company has deep respect for Seminole Tribe’s sovereignty, we remain confident in our legal position.”
The reply arrived a day after the Seminole Tribe lodged a 72‑page lawsuit in Broward County, accusing DraftKings of running an illegal sports‑betting operation that violates its exclusive 30‑year gaming compact with Florida.
Signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and approved by legislators in 2021, the compact gives the Tribe sole rights to statewide sports betting via its Hard Rock Bet platform. In the complaint, the Tribe argues that DraftKings’ prediction market works like a conventional sportsbook and urges a judge to halt the company’s Florida operations.
“Every wager that (DraftKings) now accepts through their illegal sportsbook siphons away revenue that funds both the Tribe’s and Florida’s public programs and government services; diverts betting from Florida’s regulated system into an underground, unregulated, and outlawed book; and deprives the Floridian who places such a bet of the consumer protections guaranteed by Florida law,” the lawsuit states.
The filing also references past comments from DraftKings CEO Jason Robins, who called the product “functionally identical” to the company’s traditional sportsbook offerings elsewhere.
DeSantis spoke about the lawsuit on Thursday in Miami, saying he’d just learned of the filing but stands behind the Tribe’s rights under the 2021 agreement. “They were given the purview on the sports betting, I have not read the thing I just heard about it this morning, but I think our agreement clearly contemplated that they would have the ability to run this in Florida,” he said.
He added that disputes over prediction platforms,like Kalshi and Polymarket,will likely end up in federal courts and may prompt congressional action. “The question is that if you have a certain regime on sports gaming, and then the prediction markets come in, does that fall under that or do they just get to do it?” DeSantis said. “Ultimately, you are going to see federal decisions, probably at appeals and higher. Then I think you’ll probably see Congress do some things with respect to how that’s going.”
A huge chunk of revenue hangs in the balance. Under the compact, the Seminole Tribe transferred $1.04 billion to Florida for the fiscal year ending June 30, up over $200 million from the previous year. If the Tribe’s exclusive betting control is stripped, it can halt those revenue‑sharing payments.
State economists noted in August that sports betting fuels this revenue surge, growing quickly both as a standalone activity and as a slice of all tribal gaming in Florida.
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