FLORIDA, USA — Football season starts in just a few weeks and a lot of fans may want to put some money down on games from their phone, but don’t expect to do so in Florida for at least a couple more seasons.
In November 2021, bettors placed the first legal online sports bets in the state, and if you took the “under” on the platform lasting two months, you would've won.
Weeks later, a federal judge found the compact between the state of Florida and the Seminole Tribe — who had exclusivity in the market — violated years of precedent when it comes to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
"The entire compact, which included such things as craps, roulette and the addition of new gambling casinos, all of it, including online sports betting authorization was held ‘void ab initio,’ stricken, invalidated,” Daniel Wallach, an attorney and professor who specializes in sports betting law explained.
The case is now going through the Federal Court of Appeals process, initial briefs are scheduled to begin being filed later this month but Wallach says, "It may be until 2024 before we have any resolution in the court system, on this issue of whether a tribal gaming compact can encompass and include online sports betting.”
“And I have been resolute from the very beginning. It simply cannot,” Wallach added.
Florida is on hold, while nearly three dozen states have established or are in the process of legalizing sports betting.
Wallach believes a ballot initiative is another way betting could get back online in Florida. An effort earlier this year failed to gather enough signatures to get it on the ballot this November, but another signature drive will likely be in the works for 2024.
"Until 2024 there's unlikely to be any attempts to separately legalize online sports betting in Florida,” says Wallach.