TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — An appeals court is expected to respond to a request from the Seminole Tribe on a judge's ruling that rejected the tribe's sports betting compact with the state of Florida.

Attorneys filed the emergency motion last week after a federal district court judge in the District of Columbia ruled the Seminole Tribe compact violates federal Indian gaming law and invalidated the entire agreement.

Part of their legal argument is that the Seminole Tribe should have been allowed to intervene and motion to dismiss the case.

If the emergency motion is successful, the judge's ruling would be put on hold until the appeals court can decide the intervention issue.

The judge’s ruling stopped online sports betting the state had quietly started on Nov. 1 and also blocks the Hard Rock casinos in Tampa and Broward County from becoming full “Vegas-style” casinos.

Under their agreement, the Seminole Tribe agreed to pay the state at least $2.5 billion dollars over the first five years

And the Seminoles were going to have control over online sports betting in the state and be allowed to add roulette and craps tables in their casinos.

Both the state and the Seminole Tribe are expected to appeal the decision.

Sports betting in the state started without much fanfare on November 1. It was first announced by Gov. Ron DeSantis in April.

The compact relied on a so-called “hub and spoke” model for sports betting in an attempt to get around the limitations of the Florida constitution, which requires voter approval for expanded gambling outside of a tribal compact.

The governor and tribe argued that by allowing online sports betting to be controlled by the Seminole Tribe with all bets going through a server on tribal property, they were not expanding gaming throughout the state.