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The Seminole Tribe of Florida is allegedly paying petition-gathering firms to stay away from its home state as it reportedly tries to thwart rival efforts that could lead to the legalization of online sports betting in the Sunshine State.

According to a report that appeared on online spil uden om rofus, which reported Monday on Politico.com, information about this alleged "blocking" campaign comes less than a month after the federally recognized tribe thwarted its own efforts to legalize online sports betting with a federal court decision. The decision, made in response to a lawsuit filed by Miami's Magic City casino operator, West Flagler Associates Limited, allegedly prevented the Florida Seminole Tribe from continuing the mobile sports betting service originally allowed under a gambling treaty signed in May of this year.

Controversial assertion:

However, the Seminole Tribe of Florida has subsequently announced that it will appeal the decision of Judge Dabney Friedrich of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in hopes of being able to continue offering legalized online sports betting to fans anywhere from Key West to Pensacola. Meanwhile, Politico.com reports that the tribe is now said to be employing a number of clever tactics that it hopes will prevent several competing initiatives to support sports betting from gaining enough signatures to place their own referendums on the midterm ballot next November.

Absolute attention:

As part of this effort, the Seminole Tribe of Florida has reportedly entered into highly lucrative exclusive agreements with several firms that specialize in collecting signatures for such campaigns. The source detailed that some of these agreements would allegedly prevent the partner companies from operating in Florida, while several others should lead to a wave of campaign-style television ads in addition to informal petition-gathering efforts.

Obvious obstruction:

To make matters worse, Politico.com reported that the Seminole Tribe of Florida, which is responsible for six casinos across the southern state, including the 37-acre Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tampa as well as the even larger Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood, has allegedly begun paying agents to obstruct people gathering signatures for competing petitions. One is an effort backed by online betting giants FanDuel Group and DraftKings Incorporated that would give the pair a significant advantage in the Florida gaming market.

Existing experience:

Politico.com reports that just one of the firms working to collect signatures for such a competing initiative for the 2022 ballot, Dunton Consulting, claims that in just the previous two days, 32 of its employees had agreed to buy shares from businesses associated with the Seminole Tribe of Florida. That company's chief executive officer, Rashaida Smith, allegedly said people were lured by lucrative sign-up bonuses of up to $7,000 and promises of up to $250 for each colleague they could convince to switch sides.

Smith reportedly told Politico.com

"There's been a big uptick in the last 72 hours, and they're starting to use canvassers to co-opt other canvassers. They are very aggressive. We've been following them, tracking them to their places of residence, which are hotels, standing outside. The other day one of them literally knocked a clipboard out of the canvasser's hands."

Reasonable response:

In response to such accusations, Florida Seminole Tribal spokesman Gary Bitner told Politico.com that the tribe was simply assembling "the best team of political consultants in the country" but would fire anyone found to be inappropriate.

Bitner reportedly said.

"The Seminole Tribe of Florida is currently engaged in opposing numerous outside interests who originally invested a total of $60 million in political action committees (PACs) to hire more than a thousand people to fight for their success."

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