Florida is home to numerous gaming choices both on the internet and in the actual world. Legal online gaming in Florida now includes horse racing betting, greyhound betting and everyday fantasy sports. In the physical world, Florida has horse racing gambling, bingo, conventional casinos and jai alai betting.
Sports betting in Florida does not seem likely at the moment. The state has long been eyed as a major potential market for sport betting, but changes to state law have made any upcoming gaming expansions harder as they now require a statewide referendum initiated by petition.
Legal Online Betting Options
Let us begin with a quick list of authorized Florida gaming websites and then dig into all the details below.
Sports Gaming:
RankBetting SiteBonusRatingVisit
1
100% up to $50
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Fantasy Sports:
RankBetting SiteBonusRatingVisit
1
Up to 4 Free Entries
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2
Free Contest Entry
18/21+ to Play, T&Cs Apply Inspection PLAY NOW
Horse and Greyhound Betting:
RankBetting SiteBonusRatingVisit
1
$20 Free + 100% up to $100
18/21+ to Perform, T&Cs Employ Review PLAY NOW
2
100% up to $100
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3
Wager $500, Get $100
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Horse and Greyhound Racing
Online horse racing and greyhound gambling are lawful in Florida for years and a number of major racing websites accept clients from the Sunshine State. BetAmerica, TwinSpires and TVG all accept Florida customers and are licensed directly here in america.
BetAmerica Review
TwinSpires Review
TVG Review
In November 2018, Florida voters approved Amendment 13 to end greyhound racing. The amendment created greyhound racing and gambling on live greyhound races held in Florida illegal beginning on January 1st, 2021.
Existing racetracks will still be allowed to offer poker and other games after the change takes effect, however they’ll no longer be able to host live greyhound races. This amendment also has no impact on internet greyhound racing, which will stay legal because the change only attempts to stop wagers put on races held in the state.
Fantasy Sports
The legal problem for fantasy sports in Florida is complicated and uncertain, but most daily dream sites have served the state for decades with no interference from officials.
A number of attempts to formally legalize dream sports in Florida have failed over the decades due to disputes over how the action should be categorized and the complexity of tribal gaming contracts between the state and the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
A 1991 Attorney General opinion lumped season-long dream sports in with gaming and opined it is most likely illegal under state legislation, but the opinion is obsolete and doesn’t maintain legal burden. As much as lawmakers would like to explain the legal standing of fantasy sports, progress has been slow. In the meantime, Florida residents are approved in both FanDuel and DraftKings:
FanDuel Review
DraftKings Review
Skill Games
Florida gambling law allows games of skill only if entry fees do not directly lead to the prize pool. What this signifies is that it’s authorized to pay an entry fee and compete for a fixed prize, but to not perform in a competition where all the entrance fees are accumulated to form the decoration pool itself.
For instance, it would be legal to host a paid-entry golf championship if the organizers place fixed prizes that do not change no matter the number of men and women enter the championship. That same tournament could cross the line into illegal territory if prizes were determined by pooling entrance charges and paying the winners a proportion of the prize pool.
A 1990 opinion from the Attorney General summed it up as follows:
“Thus, I am of the opinion that a contest of skill, such as a hole-in-one golf competition, in which the contestant pays an entry fee, which does not constitute the decoration, for the chance to win a prized trophy from the exercise of skill, doesn’t violate the gaming laws of this nation. To the extent that previous views of the office might be inconsistent with the conclusion reached herein, they are modified.”
WorldWinner.com, that is now the largest skill gaming site, accepts residents of Florida but restricts them from certain contests in which the prize pool isn’t fixed. Follow the link below to read more about WorldWinner:
WorldWinner Review
What about the lottery?
Florida DOES NOT sell tickets online nor does it provide a subscription service. Obviously, you could always try your luck at unauthorized lottery resellers which you may find online. I don’t recommend going that route though. It’s still illegal to sell lottery tickets on the internet from Florida so any website included in the business is totally untrue and probably located overseas.
Nobody really understands how safe or legit foreign lottery resellers are. They claim to have a team of representatives located around the world whose job it is to go about and purchase lottery tickets on behalf of consumers. The problem is there is no way to verify how it actually works.
If you want to play the lottery, it is ideal to just go buy your tickets in person. You truly don’t want to leave the destiny of your $40 million jackpot in the hands of some overseas, quasi-legal website. States do have the authority to sell tickets on the internet, but Florida doesn’t yet do this.
Sports Betting in Florida
Sports gambling is illegal for besides two exceptions: jai alai betting and cruise ships that sail into international waters to provide sports betting.
The exemption for jai alai gambling dates back to a time in Florida through which jai alai was considerably larger than the vague sport it is today. Jai alai came to Florida in the 1920s, and the nation became somewhat of an epicenter for jai alai players around the world owing to warm weather year-round and easy accessibility from Spain and Latin America, where jai alai is a favorite.
During its heyday, jai alai was exempted from state and national sports betting prohibitions. Jai alai maintained a strong presence in Florida throughout the 1970s but entered a continuous decline from the 1980s amid increasing competition from professional sports teams, the lottery and South Florida casinos.
Today, jai alai is a fairly niche sport and there are just a couple of busy frontons in operation today. For the most part, jai alai survives today primarily due to Florida gaming laws that require card rooms to offer some kind of parimutuel wagering (for instance, jai alai, greyhound racing or horse racing betting). Therefore, most jai alai frontons exist chiefly to facilitate different forms of gambling.
Another”exception” into Florida’s sports gambling prohibition happens on the cruise ships managed by Victory Casino Cruises. Victory Casino Cruise ships leave twice a day out of Port Canaveral. These boats sail into international waters, open a casino and sportsbook for a few hours and then come back to shore later that same day.
So far as a widespread legalization of sports gambling, Florida doesn’t seem likely to expand its gambling options anytime soon. There have been no attempts to present sports gambling legislation and there haven’t been any recent efforts to legalize sports betting.
A report by Eilers & Krejcik Gambling recorded the 32 states likely to legalize sports betting within five years of a Supreme Court ruling overturning the national prohibition of sports gambling. Florida was not included in that list, but it was included in a supplemental collection of all 12 additional states inclined to legalize sports betting within seven decades of such a ruling.
Can Sports Betting Ever Be Legalized at Florida?
Aside from the exceptions detailed above, sports gambling remains illegal in Florida and that is not likely to change any time soon. Florida has a complicated mix of competing interests involving lawmakers, Tribal concerns as well as the Disney company that all have their own opinions on the growth of gaming.
The odds of Florida legalizing sports gambling any time soon took a further hit in 2018 when voters approved a ballot measure that essentially stripped off the state legislature from authorizing any gaming expansion, such as sports gambling.
Previously, the state legislature might have potentially drafted a new law to create Florida sports betting legal. Under the new amendment, Florida taxpayers would need to initiate a campaign to gather signatures to put the issue into a statewide referendum. Then, voters would have to approve that referendum by 60% to earn sports gambling legal. It is possible, but not very likely at this moment.
Is it lawful to wager online in Florida?
It depends on what your definition of”lawful” is. A couple of forms of online betting are specifically legal in Florida (horses, greyhounds, dream and skill). It’s obviously illegal to operate an online casino, card room or any other company that accepts wagers without the correct licensing.
What isn’t clear is whether it is a crime to put bets online at unlicensed gaming websites. The key text from Florida’s gaming laws reads as follows:
“849.08 Betting. Whoever plays or engages in any game , keno, roulette, faro or other game of chance, at any place, by any device whatever, to get money or other item of value, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree…”
It appears pretty apparent that this legislation makes it a misdemeanor offense to participate in obvious gambling games such as slot machines, blackjack, craps and so forth. The part that says”by any device whatever” is readily translated to include the internet. On the other hand, the state has never once prosecuted one person for the mere act of placing bets online. Hunting down people playing blackjack in their computers just isn’t a high priority.
Internet poker is a different matter. The above mentioned law does not explicitly mention”poker” but it does say”any game at cards.” But — there is always a however — the term”other game of chance” appears to suggest that only games of chance have been forbidden. If poker is not a game of chance, this law doesn’t apply.
It does not end there, folks. You and that I might not consider poker a game of chance, but certain state and federal laws most certainly do define poker as precisely that. Florida law doesn’t define games of chance nor does it mention poker and there’s absolutely no case law to fall back on.
Someone would need to push the thing before we ever get Florida’s opinion on the situation of poker being skill or luck. This likely will not happen anytime soon because nobody is hunting down poker players .
What the Future Holds for Internet Gambling in Florida
A growing number of countries are in the process of legalizing online poker and casino games following a federal judge ruled in 2011 the Wire Act of 1961 only applies to sports gambling. Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey have already legalized internet poker, casino games or both. State legislators in Florida haven’t yet moved to change anything. No legislation is pending in this moment.
It does not seem like anything will probably be changing in Florida anytime soon either. The country is largely opposed to the growth of internet gambling. Back in April of 2014, Florida governor Rick Scott voiced his opposition to enlarging online gambling at the national level with a letter directed to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.
In the years since, there have been no real efforts to change Florida gaming legislation. The current status quo appears quite likely to remain as it is for the near future.
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