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Seminole-Backed Group Claims Fraud in Fla. Casino Initiative

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2 years ago

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The Seminole Tribe of Florida has gone on the offensive in litigation over a Las Vegas Sands Corp.-backed ballot initiative aimed at opening the Sunshine State to additional casinos, accusing the sponsor of “brazenly violating” Florida election law in its efforts to gather needed voter signatures.
The battle in a Leon County circuit court started with Florida Voters in Charge, the political committee behind the proposal, claiming that parties acting on behalf of the Seminoles, who have held exclusive rights to offer certain casino gaming in the state, improperly interfered with its petitioning. But on Monday, the tribe-backed political committee Standing Up for Florida Inc. and its president, political consultant Pradeep “Rick” Asnani, filed a counter-claim accusing the plaintiffs of illegally paying petition gatherers on a per-signature basis,  shredding certain petitions or forging information on incomplete petitions.
“The Constitution of Florida is under attack,” Standing Up for Florida cautioned, adding, “The counter-defendants’ illicit conduct is an attack on Florida’s election integrity.”
State law requires sponsors of citizen initiatives to gather valid signatures from at least 8% of the state electorate, or 891,000 registered voters, by Feb. 1 to qualify for the November 2022 general election ballot, but the Seminole-backed parties argue that the alleged violations render any signatures gathered by Florida Voters in Charge under such contracts to be null and void.
Standing Up for Florida, which said it has spent “exorbitant resources” to voice its opposition to the initiative and fight the allegedly fraudulent petition gathering, asserted that the per-signature payments are “flatly illegal” under a 2019 law that banned such payments.
It also cited affidavits from an employee and a former subcontractor of Grassfire LLC, a firm that coordinated some of the petition gathering, who testified that in addition to the allegedly illegal contracts, the company also illegally shredded and discarded some petitions that it thought would be rejected by state officials in order to reduce its submission fees, filled in omitted information, such as dates and addresses, and even forged state officials’ signatures.
The counter-claim names Florida Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee and Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark S. Earley as third-party defendants in connection with its request for a declaratory judgment voiding the submitted signatures. Standing Up for Florida also named the officials in an accompanying emergency motion for a temporary injunction to stop them from counting the disputed petitions.
The ballot initiative, titled “Limited Authorization of Casino Gaming,” would authorize state officials to permit casino-style games, including blackjack, roulette and slot machines, at up to three new casinos, with the restriction that they be located at least 130 miles from existing tribal casinos.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. has poured nearly $50 million into Florida Voters in Charge, according to election finance records, and news reports have suggested that, based on the proposal’s geographic limitations, the global gaming giant is aiming to open a casino in Jacksonville, in the northeast corner of the state.
Florida Voters in Charge sued Standing Up for Florida, another Seminole-backed entity known as Let the Voters Decide LLC and several other parties on Dec. 1. In an amended complaint, it alleged that the defendants have engaged in increasingly aggressive efforts to harass and intimidate its signature collectors. The suit also accuses them of “paying off” these workers by either hiring them away to gather signatures for an unnecessary “sham” petition purportedly related to a new Seminoles gaming compact or simply paying them to stop working on the new casino initiative and, in some cases, leave the state during the process.
A Leon County circuit judge denied Standing Up for Florida’s motion to dismiss, in which it argued that it acted within the state’s open labor market to compete for these workers’ services. But she ordered the plaintiffs to submit contracts that the defendants pointed out were missing to support the interference claims.
In its filings Monday, Standing Up for Florida pointed out that Grassfire produced a redacted copy of its petition gatherer contract form, but publicly available copies of the form showed Grassfire had blocked out portions detailing “bonus” payments based on the number of signatures collected.
Standing Up for Florida acknowledged that elements of the arguments in its counter-claim were rejected when it previously raised them in a separate action it filed in Palm Beach County, where it is based. But the group said that it believes that court erred by finding that the 2019 law’s authorization for the state attorney general to seek injunctions for election fraud preempted private litigants, such as itself, from bringing election integrity actions. The law, it pointed out, said nothing about ending more than 100 years of private litigants bringing such cases in Florida.
With state elections officials allowed 60 days to verify submitted signatures, Dec. 30 marked an effective deadline to guarantee that signatures will be counted by the Feb. 1 deadline, so a ruling in favor of the Seminole parties’ claims would end the initiative’s chances for appearing on the November 2022 general election ballot.
According to the latest Department of Elections records, Florida Voters in Charge had obtained verification of about 426,000 signatures. On Tuesday, the Florida Supreme Court —  as part of the usual elections process — tentatively scheduled oral arguments for March 8 on whether the proposed ballot question and title is clear and not misleading and satisfies a single-subject requirement.
Counsel for Standing Up for Florida and the other defendants declined on Tuesday to comment beyond their latest filings. Counsel for the Florida Voters in Charge and other plaintiffs did not respond to a request for comment.
Standing Up for Florida and the other defendants are represented by William N. Shepherd, Jeffrey M. Schacknow and Henry A. Moreno of Holland & Knight LLP.
Florida Voters in Charge and signature gathering companies The Human Connection and I & R Campaign Management Services are represented by James McKee, Benjamin J. Grossman and W. Bradley Russell of Foley & Lardner LLP.
Grassfire LLC is represented by Eduardo S. Lombard and Angela D. Miles of Radey Law Firm.
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Greo and CCSA Release New Report Named “Gambling Availability and Advertising in Canada: A Call to Action”

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12 hours ago

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July 5, 2024

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Recent gambling policy changes in Canada have led to increased opportunities to legally bet on sports and gamble online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The report “Gambling Availability and Advertising in Canada: A Call to Action” looks at the impacts of legal gambling in Canada since the approval of the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act in 2021. The report recommends developing a pan-Canadian strategy to address gambling-related harms. This is a new report by Greo Evidence Insights (Greo) and the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA).

This call to action is in response to the significant increase in gambling advertising on billboards, social media, at commercial breaks during sports broadcasts and during sporting events. Increased gambling availability and advertising are expected to contribute to increased gambling in Canada, thereby posing a significant risk of harms among the general population, particularly for youth, young adults and other vulnerable populations.

The report also describes how the increased availability of gambling and in gambling advertising are of great concern because:

  • The types of gambling being made available and promoted (single-event sports betting and live or in-play betting) are associated with a greater risk of harm. For example, single-event sports betting increases gambling intensity and gives an illusion of control over the outcome as people believe their knowledge of the game gives them a competitive edge.
  • The volume of gambling advertisements repeatedly pairing sports with betting normalizes gambling, leading people to think of betting as an integral part of being a sports fan.
  • Increased availability of gambling and in gambling advertising are happening at a time when many people in Canada are more vulnerable to problematic gambling and gambling-related harms because of the lingering health impacts of COVID-19 and a rise in the cost of living.

“Over the last few years, we have witnessed some of the most significant changes in gambling policy since the 1970s. We have seen a massive increase in gambling advertising and opportunities to gamble. We can no longer watch sports with our kids or go online without being subjected to an overwhelming amount of gambling advertising. Canada is at a critical moment in how it manages gambling. A national strategy or framework — similar to what we have for alcohol, tobacco and cannabis — is critical to manage the expected increase in gambling harm, especially among youth and other vulnerable people,” explained Dr. Matthew Young, Chief Research Officer at Greo, Senior Research Associate at the CCSA and Adjunct Professor at Carleton University.

The report recommends developing a national strategy that will:

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  • Develop national standards governing the promotion and availability of gambling;
  • Manage conflicts of interest among gambling stakeholders;
  • Address inadequate funding for gambling harm prevention and reduction initiatives and research;
  • Monitor systematic changes in gambling-related harm, including any assessments of the social and economic costs of gambling; and
  • Increase awareness of gambling-related harms among health and social service professionals and the public.

“Increased gambling among people living in Canada will undoubtebly result in increased harms and therefore increased societal costs. These include healthcare costs, criminal-justice costs, child welfare costs, increased unemployment and lost productivity costs because of gambling-related suicide. We need to think about our approach and ensure that it considers not only short-term government revenue and economic activity but also the longer-term societal costs. That’s why we need a national strategy,” Dr. Pam Kent, Director of Research and Emerging Trends at CCSA, said.

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Canada

Call for a National Strategy to Address Gambling-Related Harms in Wake of Sports Betting Boom

Published

2 days ago

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July 3, 2024

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Recent gambling policy changes in Canada have led to increased opportunities to legally bet on sports and gamble online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Released today, Gambling Availability and Advertising in Canada: A Call to Action looks at the impacts of legal gambling in Canada since the approval of the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act in 2021. The report recommends developing a pan-Canadian strategy to address gambling-related harms. This is a new report by Greo Evidence Insights (Greo) and the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA).

This call to action is in response to the significant increase in gambling advertising on billboards, social media, at commercial breaks during sports broadcasts and during sporting events. Increased gambling availability and advertising are expected to contribute to increased gambling in Canada, thereby posing a significant risk of harms among the general population, particularly for youth, young adults and other vulnerable populations.

The report also describes how the increased availability of gambling and in gambling advertising are of great concern because:

  • The types of gambling being made available and promoted (single-event sports betting and live or in-play betting) are associated with a greater risk of harm. For example, single-event sports betting increases gambling intensity and gives an illusion of control over the outcome as people believe their knowledge of the game gives them a competitive edge.
  • The volume of gambling advertisements repeatedly pairing sports with betting normalizes gambling, leading people to think of betting as an integral part of being a sports fan.
  • Increased availability of gambling and in gambling advertising are happening at a time when many people in Canada are more vulnerable to problematic gambling and gambling-related harms because of the lingering health impacts of COVID-19 and a rise in the cost of living.

“Over the last few years, we have witnessed some of the most significant changes in gambling policy since the 1970s,” explained Dr. Matthew Young, Chief Research Officer at Greo, Senior Research Associate at the CCSA and Adjunct Professor at Carleton University. “We have seen a massive increase in gambling advertising and opportunities to gamble. We can no longer watch sports with our kids or go online without being subjected to an overwhelming amount of gambling advertising. Canada is at a critical moment in how it manages gambling. A national strategy or framework — similar to what we have for alcohol, tobacco and cannabis — is critical to manage the expected increased in gambling harm, especially among youth and other vulnerable people.”

The report recommends developing a national strategy that will:

  • Develop national standards governing the promotion and availability of gambling;
  • Manage conflicts of interest among gambling stakeholders;
  • Address inadequate funding for gambling harm prevention and reduction initiatives and research;
  • Monitor systematic changes in gambling-related harm, including any assessments of the social and economic costs of gambling; and
  • Increase awareness of gambling-related harms among health and social service professionals and the public.

“Increased gambling among people living in Canada will undoubtebly result in increased harms and therefore increased societal costs. These include healthcare costs, criminal-justice costs, child welfare costs, increased unemployment and lost productivity costs because of gambling-related suicide,” says Dr. Pam Kent, Director of Research and Emerging Trends at CCSA. “We need to think about our approach and ensure that it considers not only short-term government revenue and economic activity but also the longer-term societal costs. That’s why we need a national strategy.”

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AGCO

Edict Egaming Secures Approval for Ontario Licence

Published

3 days ago

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July 3, 2024

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Edict egaming has received approval from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) to provide its games for the online casino market in the Canadian province. This applies to both the German edict egaming GmbH and Edict Malta Limited. From now on, the Merkur Group subsidiary will be able to offer its popular Merkur slots in one of the largest North American markets.

“We are delighted to have received AGCO approval for our Merkur games in Ontario. This is definitely a big step for edict and we are very excited to showcase ourselves to new audiences on the global stage in this dynamic market,” Dominic-Daniel Liénard, CEO of edict egaming GmbH, said.

The AGCO is working with the Government of Ontario and iGaming Ontario (iGO) to establish a new online gaming market that helps protect consumers gambling through private gaming companies. This license certifies that edict operates within the framework of strict laws and meets the requirements for responsible gaming.

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