Want to know state of sports betting in Florida? Here’s your answers

It took two years of legal wrangling and ongoing litigation, but the tribe of Seminoles is running what is perhaps the largest operation in the United States.

More than 30 months after Governor Ron Landing and Florida Seminoles Chairman Marcellus Oscola Jr. celebrated the signing of a new gambling agreement for 2021, Florida is finally backing sports betting fees. [Tribune News Service]

• John Romano Employee Times

Published on November 21, 2023 | Updated on November 21, 2023

Tampa - The Bible Belt is especially picking up on this one. States with "red blood" like Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee have already legalized sports betting. In New England, they're almost all set. When Vermont recently passed a law, the whole Northeast was on gambling's side.

If you want to personally put money into a bookmaker's window in the United States, you can contact operators in 35 states. And if you don't want to leave the bank, half of the country also allows you to make mobile bets via gambling applications.

According to the Legal Sports Report Study, since the Supreme Court opened the door to sports betting in 2018, Americans have rushed to put more than $270 billion into various competitions.

Why is Florida still tiptoeing around casinos? Why are sports prizes only returning now after a two-year hiatus? And why does uncertainty over their future still remain?

In short, it's all very complicated. In addition to the fierce conflict between the Seminole tribe and the gambling industry, a constitutional amendment passed at the request of voters that would have curbed gambling was rejected by the governor. Legal battles continue in federal and state courts, with the issue of whether gamblers with smartphones and applications can be considered dependent on tribal lands 100 miles away from seven casinos.

Needless to say, other states seem to think Florida has ceded a 30-year monopoly on a burgeoning industry and sacrificed hundreds of millions in tax revenue.

"And strangely enough, it's deprived the staff of the largest base of tax revenue that could have come from various operators in the market," said Daniel Waller, a South Florida attorney who specializes in sports fees.

Complications were inevitable

Suits of $100 bills on a table playing craps at a casino in Las Vegas. Craps and roulette games are set to launch in Florida in December. [John Locher | AP]

Frankly, no matter which path you choose, it's no small business. There's so much money at stake, so many conflicting opinions about the side effects of gambling in society, so many arguments over legal nuances.

For the most part, everything just takes its own course:

After the Supreme Court's decision in May 2018, states across the country rushed to partner with mobile betting sites like Fanduel, Draftkings, BetMGM and Caesars Sportsbook. Betting applications are in reckless demand, and judging by advertising dollars, they will soon be just as profitable. In Massachusetts, where sportsbooks were legalized 15 months ago, eight operators of all kinds already offer mobile betting, and two more have licenses but are not yet operating on the network.

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In Florida, the comparison was more confusing because the staff had already signed a contract (for example, a contract with the name) with the Seminole tribe for casino management. The tribe is a tribe that grants a minimum fixed fee status in lieu of a monopoly in some types of gambling.

Governor Ron Landing signed a new contract with the Seminoles in 2021, giving the tribe its own rights for sports betting (and also added crepes and roulette to the casino and confirmed the three casinos surrounded by Brovard).

The sports betting element would be within $50 million of this amount.

Massachusetts has about a quarter of Florida's population and receives millions of dollars a month on average in taxes on sports fees, and it really speaks to the fact that Florida has the ability to leave hundreds of millions of dollars on the table without spending it, without attracting it, without taxing outside operators.

Landing then said that colluding with the "Seminoles" was their best option to avoid a constitutional amendment.

"I can only negotiate with the tribe." In accordance with the amendments passed in 2018, you can't gamble except for them. "

Other paths may have worked

The seminol tribe owns a hard rock hotel & AMP; AMP; Casinotampa and also owns other casinos in the state. [Douglas R. Clifford | Times].

This study was not a match between the Ibon Congress. The same applies to the c o-competition owners who have been fighting for a long time with tribes to maintain other types of casinos that are not stated as owning poker rooms and seminol ownership.

Former Stores of State State Senator Jeff Brandes, in 2020 and 2021, has submitted a bill to introduce a sports gambling of $ 100, a 15 % tax rate, through Florida Lotry. The bill was rejected by the committee.

Brandes claims that the increase in sports gambling throughout the state is very rapid, and that florida can increase more profits by taxing independent businesses instead of accepting uniform tax rates from tribes. do.

"Brandes said," We, "we have actually monopolized the relevant sports gambling to the tribes." I am a Republican member who believes in the free and opened market, and we are free and open in the first place. It was a shor t-term decisive battle to solve the other tribe with the tribe. "It was a carrot that the tribe gave without thinking and not thinking."

Giving your own rights to tribes means that gamblers cannot find the best odds between online sites that create competition.

With this new contract, the state was exposed to a lawsuit, the introduction of sports betting was delayed, and for at least two years, Florida's profit.

Gambling companies in the South Florida allow the government to allow sem i-noh to exceed its own restrictions by providing mobile betting in the tribal land, and the new contract does not comply with the constitutional correction that requires voters' approval. He filed a lawsuit between the State Court and the Federal Court. < SPAN> "I can only negotiate with the tribe." In accordance with the amendments passed in 2018, it is not possible to gamble except for them. "

The seminol tribe owns a hard rock hotel & AMP; AMP; Casinotampa and also owns other casinos in the state. [Douglas R. Clifford | Times].

This study was not a match between the Ibon Congress. The same applies to the c o-competition owners who have been fighting for a long time with tribes to maintain other types of casinos that are not stated as owning poker rooms and seminol ownership.

Former Stores of State State Senator Jeff Brandes, in 2020 and 2021, has submitted a bill to introduce a sports gambling of $ 100, a 15 % tax rate, through Florida Lotry. The bill was rejected by the committee.

Brandes claims that the increase in sports gambling throughout the state is very rapid, and that florida can increase more profits by taxing independent businesses instead of accepting uniform tax rates from tribes. do.

Questions still remain

"Brandes said," We, "we have actually monopolized the relevant sports gambling to the tribes." I am a Republican member who believes in the free and opened market, and we are free and open in the first place. It was a shor t-term decisive battle to solve the other tribe with the tribe. "It was a carrot that the tribe gave without thinking and not thinking."

Giving your own rights to tribes means that gamblers cannot find the best odds between online sites that create competition.

With this new contract, the state was exposed to a lawsuit, the introduction of sports betting was delayed, and for at least two years, Florida's profit.

Gambling companies in the South Florida allow the government to allow sem i-noh to exceed its own restrictions by providing mobile betting in the tribal land, and the new contract does not comply with the constitutional correction that requires voters' approval. He filed a lawsuit between the State Court and the Federal Court. "I can only negotiate with the tribe." In accordance with the amendments passed in 2018, you can't gamble except for them. "

The seminol tribe owns a hard rock hotel & AMP; AMP; Casinotampa and also owns other casinos in the state. [Douglas R. Clifford | Times].

This study was not a match between the Ibon Congress. The same applies to the c o-competition owners who have been fighting for a long time with tribes to maintain other types of casinos that are not stated as owning poker rooms and seminol ownership.

Former Stores of State State Senator Jeff Brandes, in 2020 and 2021, has submitted a bill to introduce a sports gambling of $ 100, a 15 % tax rate, through Florida Lotry. The bill was rejected by the committee.