Things To Do In SW Florida

By PAUL WISEMAN and MICHAEL LIEDTKE (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Google has exploited its dominance of the internet search market to lock out competitors and smother innovation, the Department of Justice said Tuesday at the opening of the biggest U.S. antitrust trial in a quarter century.

“This case is about the future of the internet and whether Google’s search engine will ever face meaningful competition,” said Kenneth Dintzer, the Justice Department’s lead litigator.

Over the next 10 weeks, federal lawyers and state attorneys general will try to prove Google rigged the market in its favor by locking in its search engine as the default choice in a plethora of places and devices. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta likely won’t issue a ruling until early next year. If he decides Google broke the law, another trial will decide what steps should be taken to rein in the Mountain View, California-based company.

Top executives at Google and its corporate parent Alphabet Inc., as well as those from other powerful technology companies are expected to testify. Among them is likely to be Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, who succeeded Google co-founder Larry Page four years ago. Court documents also suggest that Eddy Cue, a high ranking Apple executive, might be called to the stand. read more

With its refusal to re-hear a challenge to the Seminole Tribe’s gambling agreement with the state of Florida, a federal appellate court opened the door again this week to online sports betting in the state.

On Monday, the U.S Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decided not to re-hear a legal challenge from two gambling competitors, Magic City Casino in Miami and Bonita Springs Poker Room in Southwest Florida, against Florida’s 2021 Compact with the Seminole Tribe that previously legalized sports betting on Tribal lands. The result is that the Seminoles could capitalize on a monopoly in online betting when the practice starts again, possibly in time for the Super Bowl and March Madness.

The state stood to make about $2.5 billion from the 2021 agreement, while the Tribe had complete control over the sports betting industry as residents began to download the Hard Rock Sportsbook mobile app late that year. But the operation only lasted about a month before the court challenge forced it to a halt. read more