Florida Sports Betting Kicked Out Till 2023
Florida’s ability to resist the introduction of sports wagering looks set to continue, as the latest attempt to pass legislation now seems dead in the water. Advocates of staging sportsbooks in the Sunshine State were dealt a terminal blow on Friday, when it was made clear that a vote on the 2022 ballot box had become an almost impossible scenario.
Florida Educational Champions, a group pushing for the establishment of sports betting in the southern state, needed to have returned 900,000 supporting signatures, by the 1st February, to get their proposal on the ballot box.
As of Friday, signatures hadn’t surpassed the half million mark. Organizers were quick to place a portion of the blame on the surge in Omicron infections towards the back end of last year. However, even accounting for this detrimental development, it remains unclear whether enough Floridians are receptive to a sports wagering market. Indeed, its unclear as to whether another bill will be chased in 2024.
However, this isn’t the first time that a sports wagering campaign has become unstuck here. Last Summer, after negotiation between Gov. Ron Desantis, and the native Seminole Tribe, a deal was struck for the Indian contingent to acquire control of the state’s sports betting enterprises. This was fiercely contested by two local casino operators, who flagged a breach in the Indian Gaming Regulation Act, and subsequently filed a lawsuit. The Seminole Tribe’s approach remains on ice, with local courts determining that plans to run state wide online bets through a local, in-house computer server was not in keeping with the terms of their original proposal.
Las Vegas Sands have also attempted to agitate a deal in Florida, linking in with local pari-mutuel operators to offer casino-style games as part of their proposal. However, it looks as if this initiative will also fall short of the ballot box, with a further 160,000 signatures needed within the last three days of circulation.
The Seminole Tribe’s campaign, now entering a series of appeals, will most likely rumble on for a prolonged period of time. Therefore, given the status of other sports wagering efforts, the lucrative potential of Florida, with its 21m residents and 10m per annum in tourist footfall, looks set to remains untapped.
