The U.S. Supreme Court late Wednesday agreed to extend the deadline for the U.S. Dept. of the Interior (DOI) to file a response in the case versus West Flagler and Associates (WFA) that could determine the future of online sports betting in Florida. U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar filed for the extension Tuesday, citing the “heavy press of earlier assigned cases to the attorneys handling this matter.” The original deadline was March 13.

The DOI will now have until April 12 to file a response to WFA’s brief, in which it described the current situation in Florida as “unlawful” and asked the court not make it a model for other U.S. jurisdictions to follow. Florida’s Seminole Tribe has a monopoly on gaming that Gov. Ron DeSantis and the legislature in May 2021 extended to retail and online sports betting when they approved the latest compact.

The question is whether or not the compact is valid, given that voters in 2018 approved Amendment 3, which requires any expansion of gaming to go to the voters. In a second lawsuit, WFA is suing DeSantis and the legislature on that point in state supreme court. Florida’s Supreme Court has not yet determined if it will hear that case.

WFA filed its writ of certiorari last month, and after the DOI responds, the SCOTUS will begin to consider if it will take the case. People familiar with the workings of the Supreme Court say the odds of the court taking the case are low — it takes 100-150 of 7,000 cases its asked to review annually — and it will likely be at least a few months after the DOI filing before the court determines if it will take the case.

In the meantime, the Seminole’s Hard Rock Bet platform is live in Florida, where those in the state were able to bet on the Super Bowl for the first time last month and will have their first opportunity to bet on March Madness later this month. The tribe launched online sports betting last November and then opened its brick-and-mortar sportsbooks for betting in December.