When Will Sports Betting Come To Florida (Again)

For a short while, sports betting was legal in Florida. But government regulators quickly shut down the operations before it could really take off. So when will sports betting come back to Florida?

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. The decision to allow sports betting lies with the state legislature and governor. And right now, there doesn’t seem to be much appetite for bringing sports betting back to Florida.That could change in the future, of course. If enough people start clamoring for sports betting, the state legislature may eventually take up the issue again. And if that happens, we could see sports betting in Florida once more. Until then, though, it looks like we’ll just have to wait and see.

The crux of the issue is the seminal Indians have a exclusive right to gambling in the state and they don’t want any competition. But in order to keep that exclusivity the only way sports betting will work is if someone is on tribal land when they make the bet. This eliminates the online gambling component which in today’s day and age is the only way to go.

People love to bet on their mobile device, and having to drive all the way to the Hard Rock Casino is not very convenient just to make a bet.

It was a lobbying effort in 2021 to get a referendum in place to allow sports betting from outside companies such as DraftKings and FanDuel but they did not gain enough signatures to get on a ballot. It remains to be seen what happens in the future but if the Seminoles really wanted to have online gaming they will have to allow competition.

We’ll heep you posted.