Is Online Betting Legal In Florida
- Casino Gambling: Legal
- Poker: Legal
- Horse Racing Betting: Legal
- Dog Racing Betting: Legal
- Lottery: Legal
- Daily Fantasy Sports: Unspecified
- Charitable Gaming: Legal
- Social Gambling: Restricted
- Online Gambling: Unspecified
Florida gambling law is ever-changing, as citizens and lawmakers wage constant war to push their various agendas. Legislation is perpetually being introduced to ban one form of gaming or expand some other type. While this creates an exciting dynamic for fans of politics on the state level, it also makes it difficult for the average fan to stay on top of things.
The state of Florida doesn’t regulate online gambling or allow any casinos to operate within state lines. But since the state’s laws don’t mention online gambling at all, it’s technically legal to gamble with offshore-based casino, poker, and sports betting sites. Presently online and offline sports betting is not legal in the state of Florida, but hopefully that won’t be the case for long. Florida is in a unique position when it comes to legalizing online sports betting. After the Supreme Court’s historic ruling in May of 2018 to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), many states jumped headfirst into this multi. The legality of online gambling in Florida is entirely dependent upon the activity in question. Online horse racing betting, greyhound betting and daily fantasy sports are all permitted in Florida. Other forms of online wagering such as mobile sportsbooks and casinos are prohibited under state law.
Florida permits multiple land-based gambling options, including Indian tribal casinos, stand-alone card rooms, lotteries, bingo, and pari-mutuel racetracks. At this time, Florida has not considered online gambling regulation at the state level.
In order to provide a clearer picture, we’ve put together this overview of the current laws as they apply to gambling in Florida. Some or all of these may be different in a few years, which is why we suggest that high rollers or anyone planning on getting into the gambling business supplement this material with a visit to an attorney.
Online Gambling Florida
Our goal, however, is to keep this page on Florida gambling as updated as possible. So as we learn new information or new laws are passed, we will do our best to update this page. We want to make sure that our readers have the most accurate information so that they can make the best decisions of what to do when it comes to gambling in their state.
If you live in the state of Florida, we recommend bookmarking this page and any other resources that we suggest here so that you can keep up-to-date with what’s going on and make sure you’re informed about any new legal issues or better places for you to gamble.
We’ll dig into Florida’s gambling laws further down the page, but first we’d like to share some contextual information to help you put the whole story about the state’s betting regulations into perspective. You’ll see from the information below that Florida’s statutes related to gaming are an odd mix of ultra-progressive and ultra-conservative.
You’ll also see the clear influence of local anti-tax politics; though the state’s betting options bring in a couple billion a year, Florida lays claim to well under $500 million. The state’s relatively-paltry 20% casino revenue tax is mainly to blame.
- Age Requirements
- 18 in venues where no liquor is served; 21 otherwise
- Approximate Annual Gambling Revenue
- $2 billion
- Approximate Annual Gambling Taxes
- $393 million
- Number of Commercial Casinos
- 2
- Number of Rancinos
- 25
- Number of Tribal Casinos
- 8
- Casino Regulatory Body
- Florida Div. of Consumer Services
- Lottery National Rankings
- 3rd
The two commercial casino properties mentioned in the Key Info box above are casino cruise ships that embark from Florida, enter international waters, and allow customers to engage in traditional forms of gambling. That long list of racinos should tell you something about the state’s gambling market – it is generally disorganized, small-scale, and heavily-regulated. That’s pushed many Floridians interested in operating a gaming venue out of the market, and left a vacuum that only outside investment can fill. The result is a gambling-friendly state that’s never created an identity for itself.
Part of Florida’s low-revenue problem has to do with its oddball gaming laws. Below you’ll find our detailed guide to Florida law, at least as it pertains to real-money betting.
No, sports betting in Florida is not legal at this time.
Sports betting in Florida
Sports betting does not sound close to becoming a reality anytime soon, as there are a number of factors working against it.
Gambling is legal at the state’s tribal casinos and pari-mutuel facilities. The Seminole Tribe of South Florida has operated several brick-and-mortar casinos, paying a flat fee to the state in revenue. However, horse racetracks and jai-alai frontons were greenlighted for another form of gambling, designated player card games, sometimes resulting in wagering up to $50,000 per hand. The Seminole Tribe was unhappy that they did not have exclusivity to table-game wagering and balked at paying money back to the state.
Negotiations have been underway to make the Seminole Tribe, the pari-mutuel facilities and Republican Governor Ron DeSantis all happy. While Gov. DeSantis has been reluctant to expand gambling in the state, legislators have been working on a deal that would make the tribal casinos a hub for sports betting. This would essentially mean the tribal casinos would get a percentage of the overall gambling revenue made even outside of their facilities. The sticking point might be if the Seminole Tribe only wants sports betting at their brick-and-mortar facilities, completely shutting out the racetracks, jai-alai frontons, etc.
Another obstacle might be the voters themselves. While a deal could be hammered out to make please everyone, a ballot initiative passed by voters in 2018 required any gambling expansion outside of the tribal casinos and the lottery required to be initiated by the voters, not the state legislature.
American Roulette Online Casino Florida
As mentioned above, legalizing sports betting in the state doesn’t seem to be close at this point.
Online sportsbooks in Florida
None.
Retail sportsbooks in Florida
Are Online Casinos Legal In Florida
None.
Is Online Sports Betting Legal In Florida
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