Florida Sports Betting Dead Until 2025

Barring a miracle, there will be no mobile sports betting in the Sunshine State until 2025, though you can certainly still play with offshore books.  These are browser-based websites.

Efforts by DraftKings and other gambling firms to get a betting question on the November 2022 ballot have fallen short by a lot.   Their Florida Election Champions initiative reportedly obtained less than the 891,589 valid signatures (8% of the vote in the last presidential election) required.  The group has 435,599 valid signatures as of Wednesday despite promises of a free $100.

The Las Vegas Sands-backed Florida Casino Gaming Expansion ballot initiative is being accused of participating in fraudulent gathering methods with election supervisors saying they received a large number of illegitimate signatures supporting the Sands-backed Florida Voters In Charge initiative.  One election supervisor revealed he was shocked to find his own unauthorized signature provided.

All of this comes after Washington, D.C.-based U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich ruled against the Seminoles moving forward with their mobile sports betting initiative.  The Seminoles compact with the state would have allowed the tribe to have full control of online sports wagering in Florida.

But the Seminoles ran afoul of the owners of Magic City Casino and Bonita Springs Poker Room in Southwest Florida, who challenged the compact and claimed the sports betting provision violated federal law.

The Seminoles have appealed Friedrich's ruling but no date has yet to be set on a hearing.

- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com