Compliance Updates

Seminole-Backed Group Claims Fraud in Fla. Casino Initiative

Published

3 years ago

January 13, 2022

Seminole-Backed Group Claims Fraud in Fla. Casino Initiative

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.

Related Topics:Las Vegas Sands The Seminole Tribe of Florida

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IGSA Welcomes Sharp Vision as Silver Member

Published

24 hours ago

July 26, 2024

Niji Narayan

The International Gaming Standards Association (IGSA) has welcomed Sharp Vision as a new Silver member. Sharp Vision is a leading provider of regulatory turnkey solutions for gaming authorities.

“We are delighted to be a part of IGSA and we look forward to contributing to the advancement of best practices among regulators in the fast-growing gaming industry,” Damien Raymond, COO of Sharp Vision, said.

“IGSA is very excited to welcome Sharp Vision to our membership. We believe that IGSA Standards can enhance Sharp Vision’s products supporting regulatory authority oversight. We look forward to their participation in IGSA committees,” Mark Pace, President of IGSA, said.

Compliance Updates

PGCB Places Seven Individuals on Involuntary Interactive Exclusion List for Online Gaming Fraud

Published

24 hours ago

July 26, 2024

Niji Narayan

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) on Wednesday approved recommendations by its Office of Enforcement Counsel (OEC) for the placement of seven individuals on the iGaming Involuntary Exclusion List.

The online transactions that these seven individuals engaged in, totaling $27,168, were investigated by the Board’s Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement (BIE) and found to be fraudulent in two major respects:

an individual used a fraudulent scheme to obtain an online account or accounts in another person’s name and identifiers, placed funds into these accounts utilizing other persons’ payment methods, and without engaging in any gaming activity, managed to have funds withdrawn from the fraudulently-established account or accounts directly into their own bank account; or,
requested and received a refund for a disputed credit or debit card transaction from a card issuer even though that refund was fraudulent.

The specific fraudulent conduct of each individual is further described below:

Created two separate online sports wagering accounts using the personal identification and credit cards of other individuals, and withdrew $300;
Created 13 separate online casino-type games accounts using the personal identification and credit cards of other individuals, and withdrew $545;
Created six separate online sports wagering accounts using the personal identification and credit cards of other individuals, and withdrew $1000;
Created four separate online sports wagering accounts using the personal identification and credit cards of other individuals, and withdrew $1123;
Created two separate online sports wagering accounts using the personal identification and credit cards of other individuals, and withdrew $1500;
Illegally requested and received six chargebacks to a credit card associated with an online casino-type games account totaling $10,100;
Created one online sports wagering account using the personal identification and credit card of another individual, and withdrew $12,600.

The Board’s actions in these matters stem from its commitment to keep individuals who have committed fraud from gaming online in Pennsylvania. The additions made bring to 37 the total number of individuals who are currently on the iGaming Involuntary Exclusion List.

The Board also placed four other individuals on its Casino Involuntary Exclusion List. The number of individuals currently on that list totals 1197 and stems from various reasons including theft, cheating, child endangerment disorderly conduct, and using counterfeit currency.

Compliance Updates

PandaScore secures their first US betting license, by entering Colorado

Published

4 days ago

July 23, 2024

Adrienn Sarkany

After a meticulous and measured research process in consultation with the needs of its clients, PandaScore has acquired a license to operate in the US state of Colorado.

Through the license, PandaScore has signalled its intentions in the US market: forging a supplier-led path to esports betting success in the US. Existing PandaScore clients can now enter the Colorado market, scale up their esports offering and build their future audience in the state’s esports-friendly regulatory framework.

Future clients can also be confident that working with PandaScore supports their growth strategy in the lucrative US market. The state’s esports-friendly regulatory framework serves as a solid foundation to cultivate an esports audience and take advantage of PandaScore’s innovative, revenue-driving products such as BetBuilder, player props and microbetting.

PandaScore selected Colorado as its first point of entry into US licensing thanks to the state’s large catalogue of esports titles and competitions that are eligible for regular betting, and the wide range of markets that can be offered. Additionally, the state’s flexible and innovation-friendly licensing regime makes it a strong market for PandaScore and its clients.

Securing the license also serves as proof of concept for the French esports supplier, PandaScore Legal Counsel Alexis Brunet noted that “securing the Colorado license is a strong signal of our intentions in the US and are serious about its potential. Esports in the United States is a fast-evolving regulatory environment, but it’s only going in one direction: expansion. We intend to provide our best-in-class products and services to our customers no matter where they are, and service one of the largest markets in the world.”

For PandaScore CEO Flavien Guillocheau, entry into Colorado in the US market was the natural next step in the company’s client-first, service-oriented approach: “For esports to succeed in the US, suppliers must lead from the front. Suppliers need to address the uncertainty around regulation which has held back operator investment and thus growth of the vertical.

“We’ve proven we know the market, get a license efficiently and do it in a way that puts operators first. We’re confident that if our clients are seeking entry into a given market, we can be completely straight with them, show them the viable pathway to success, and create the foundation and access they need to fully harness the potential of esports in one of its biggest consumer markets.”