Sports Betting in Florida Might Have to Wait Until 2025

In the latter part of 2021, Florida's Seminole Indian Nation began accepting sports bets through its Hard Rock Cafe Casino. They were licensed to do so after signing a new Indian compact with Florida Governor Ron Desantis. Legalized sports betting in Florida was short-lived as a federal judge ruled in December 2021 that the compact was in direct violation of IGRA and invalidated the entire deal. That decision has been appealed.

The federal judge's ruling came on the heels of disputes to the compact as filed by two groups. One group was led by the owners of the Magic City Casino in Miami-Dade County and the Bonita Springs Poker Room, another South Florida gambling establishment. The other group, Florida Education Champions, was heavily backed by Fanduel and DraftKings, two of the largest mobile sports betting operators in the U.S. Both of these groups were angry that the compact gave the Tribe exclusive rights to all Florida sports betting activities.

Both of these groups subsequently put forth ballot initiatives that would give Floridians a chance to vote for the legalization of open sports betting in the state. In order to make it onto the 2022 ballot for the November 2022 election cycle, close to nearly 900,000 signatures are by a February 1st deadline.

As of January 28, 2022, it looks like both measures will fail to get enough signatures by the deadline. With three days remaining, the Florida Education Champions measure is about 400,000 signatures short of its target. Clearly, the initiative won't be on the ballot this year. Likewise, the other initiative that is being sponsored and bankrolled largely by Las Vegas Sands Corp. is also short of its target by 190,000 signatures.

The Future of Sports Betting in Florida

With a population of over 21 million residents with financial means, the Florida sports betting market is generally considered one of the most fertile markets in the country. Even worse, residents of Florida have expressed a great desire to have the right to bet on sports.

With so much revenue on the line, the Seminole Tribe and Pari Mutual Casino operators have vowed to continue the fight. To that end, the U.S. Department of the Interior has sided with the Seminole Tribe's appeal of the federal judge's order to overturn the new compact. The problem with this option is appeals take time and time is money.

Should an Appeals Court uphold the lower court's ruling, the only option available for sports betting in Florida would be another round of competing initiatives for the 2024 election cycle. Even if an initiative passed in late 2024, it would be well into 2025 before Florida sports bettors would get the green light.

What's a play here is greed. The Seminole Tribe has enjoyed having exclusive casinos right in Florida for decades. Now, they want the same privilege with sports betting. On the other side of the fence, Florida pair mutual and card room owners are tired of cowering to the Tribe's exclusive rights. At this point, sports betting is the line they are drawing in the sand.