New Sports Betting Efforts Emerge in Florida

Florida has been attempting to legalize sports betting for more than a year, and that effort is once again coming alive in 2022. The Seminole Tribe has previously worked with the state to legalize this industry, but new options could be coming soon.

DraftKings and FanDuel are the two biggest online sportsbooks in the United States, and they are working together to get a change made to the current gaming laws in the state. The companies are working on getting a ballot initiative placed on the ballot in November 2022, but time is starting to run out.

FanDuel and DraftKings are working together to bring sports betting to Florida.

According to a report, the two companies have combined to spend $27 million to collect the appropriate signatures. The deadline to collect the required signatures is Feb. 1, and these companies are apparently more than 600,000 signatures short. 

A spokesperson for the two gaming operators recently expressed optimism that all of the votes would be collected in time, and there are still workers in the field collecting the signatures. 

If this initiative were to be approved, sports betting would be legal online, at professional sports venues, and at pari-mutuel facilities. 

 

Hard Rock App Shut Down

The Seminole Tribe officially launched the Hard Rock Sportsbook app on Nov. 1, but it wasn’t long before it was shut back down. This app immediately came under fire from opposing groups, and lawsuits were filed to the court system.

A federal judge ultimately ruled that the sports betting option violated federal law because not all of the betting was being done on tribal land. The Seminole Tribe had tried to get around the issue by claiming that the servers were on the reservation, but they still lost the battle.

The Seminole Tribe will continue looking for a way to launch sports betting, but it is going to be a battle to get things back on track.

 

Las Vegas Sands Wants in Florida 

DraftKings and FanDuel aren’t the only big names attempting to launch online sports betting in the state. Las Vegas Sands is also hoping to get the chance to take bets on sporting events, but that company wants to operate a casino as well.

The Seminole Tribe is the only current group that offers casino-style gaming in the state, and it will fight back against this effort from the Las Vegas Sands group. There has already been a massive ad campaign rolled out by the Seminoles urging residents to keep their signatures off of the initiative. 

Las Vegas Sands is hoping that cardrooms in the state of Florida will be able to expand gaming options, and that would provide a big threat to the Seminole Tribe as well. This attempt has been centered around legal sports betting, but it could change the entire gaming industry in the state.