DraftKings moves Seminole Tribe prediction-market lawsuit to federal court

DraftKings has moved the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s challenge to its prediction-market and sports offerings from Broward County to federal court, arguing that the dispute concerns a federally supervised commodities exchange rather than a matter for Florida gambling law.

The company, GUS III LLC doing business as DraftKings Predictions, and chief executive Jason Robins filed a 29-page notice of removal on Nov. 9. The case is now pending in the Fort Lauderdale division of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida as No. 0:26-cv-63156.

As we reported in October, the Tribe originally sued DraftKings and the other defendants in Broward County, seeking to halt the company’s Florida operations and recover allegedly unlawful profits.

In its removal filing, DraftKings invoked federal-officer and federal-question jurisdiction. It said its designated contract market performs self-regulatory functions under Commodity Futures Trading Commission oversight, including controlling market access and listing and certifying event contracts. The company called the Tribe’s lawsuit “retaliatory” and said it seeks to intrude on federal authority over nationwide derivatives trading.

DraftKings operates its prediction market through its wholly owned Railbird Exchange subsidiary. The CFTC designated Railbird a contract market in June 2025, before DraftKings acquired it in October of that year; Railbird began trading in June. A designated contract market may self-certify new contracts, subject to the CFTC’s authority to investigate, stay, amend or prohibit them.

The company also contends that federal commodities law gives the CFTC exclusive jurisdiction over swaps traded or executed on a designated contract market, preempting Florida gambling law. It said the Tribe’s compact-related claims independently raise federal questions because the 2021 Gaming Compact was approved under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

The Tribe’s complaint alleges that DraftKings is operating an illegal, unlicensed sportsbook in Florida. It characterizes the company’s sports offerings, including CFTC-regulated event contracts, as bookmaking under state law. The complaint says DraftKings’ Super App offers game lines, moneylines, point spreads, over-unders, player propositions and parlays without a Florida licence or state oversight.

The dispute matters for the Tribe because the 2021 compact grants it exclusive statewide sports-betting rights, subject to specified exceptions. DraftKings formally joined a state-court challenge to Florida’s compact law on Sept. 17, about three weeks before the Tribe filed suit.

DraftKings tied its removal argument to a CFTC interpretation issued Nov. 5. The agency said designated contract markets must provide competitive, open, fair and impartial access, and that geographic limits inconsistent with that requirement must end within 30 days or be explained to the Division of Market Oversight. CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig said derivatives markets must operate uniformly at a national scale.

The removal strategy faces uncertainty. Gaming America quoted attorneys Madeline Pendley and Ryan Robey as predicting that the federal court would probably send the case back to state court. The broader legal record is mixed: federal district courts in Nevada and New Jersey found the Commodity Exchange Act preempted state gaming rules in Kalshi-related cases, while a Maryland federal court declined to grant Kalshi a preliminary injunction.