Sports betting in Florida has a lot of hurdles to get through to have a local sports betting market. First off, you have the gambling monopoly from the state’s major tribe the Seminole. Next, are other legal restrictions that prevent the state from even drafting bills. Similar to certain states, Florida’s constitution may be preventing local legislators to legalize sports betting. At least not without its residents voting for it. The vote actually requires a 60% approval from voters before any casino gambling law passes.
However, when Florida residents voted for Amendment 3 back in 2018, industry experts were still anticipating a delay in the pubic voting on gambling matters. But a question on the wording of Amendment 3 mentions all forms of casino gambling. Sports gambling, however, was not mentioned at all. This could be interpreted as a loophole that will allow legislators to come up with sports betting legislation without needing a public vote.
Sports Betting in Florida
With a large betting market across the US, a lot of people have considered to be a bookie from home. The income that one can generate from being an online bookie is very promising. And since you can do online betting from any device, anywhere, at any time, it is also an attractive option for people who want to place wagers. Instead of going out to casinos, they can just go online, check the odds, and place bets.
PricePerPlayer.com PayPerHead is one such provider that helps bookies create their own sportsbooks online. In any given month, millions worth of wagers placed online in the US. Therefore, states like Florida are losing a potential source of tax revenue they can generate from sports betting.
The Future of Sports Gambling in Florida
But if the loophole is valid, then this could pave the way for a legal sports betting market in the Sunshine state. According to experts, the language in Amendment 3 only refers to any game that is “typically found in casinos”, and in November 2018, sports betting is not one of the games you can typically find in a local casino.
According to data, only 6 out of 30 states had sports betting in casinos. Jurisprudence in Florida also shows how the explicit language of the constitution, and not implied, determines the interpretation of the constitution. So far, we do not see any bills being drafted in Florida, but the year is young. We could possibly see more developments in the next few months. After all, Florida could stand to benefit from the additional income the state could generate from taxing sports betting revenue.