Is sports betting legal in Florida? What to know about gambling before you watch the games

Posted by author November 28, 2024 Gambling

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Getting ready to settle down and watch the games? While you watch the Dolphins face off against the Packers, the Cowboys battle the Giants or the Bears take on the Lions, you might want to put a little money on the results. Can you, legally, in Florida?

Yes, but not everywhere.

Is sports betting legal in Florida?

Yes, but only at casinos on Seminole Tribe lands or through the Seminole Tribe’s mobile app.

In 2021, the Seminole Tribe struck a 30-year deal (known as a gaming compact) with the state to allow sports betting on tribal lands and also allow anyone in Florida to gamble with a mobile app hosted on tribal land, in exchange for paying the state about $20 billion, including $2.5 billion over the first five years. The contract also allowed the Seminoles to add craps and roulette, previously prohibited, to their Florida casinos. Slot machines were already allowed there but illegal anywhere else.

After that, there were years of legal battles between the Seminole Tribe and a group of pari-mutuel companies who challenged the compact, but the challenges consistently lost and all parties finally came to an agreement in October.

What sports betting apps are legal in Florida?

The Hard Rock Bet app (iOS | Android) from the Seminole Tribes is the only approved mobile betting app in Florida.

There are online apps that claim to be based on offshore locations and therefore legal in Florida, but they’re on shaky legal ground.

How can I bet on sports in Florida?

You have three legal options.

Place in-person bets at one of the Seminole Tribe-controlled casinos where sports gambling has been launched.
Bet online with the Seminole Tribes’ Hard Rock Bet app or the Hard Rock Bet website.
Take a gambling cruise that travels three miles out into international waters. Which is sort of fuzzy, legally speaking, but it is an option.

What forms of gambling are currently legal in Florida?

Broadly speaking, Florida currently allows:

Sports gambling at Seminole-Tribe-run casinos or through the Seminole tribes’ app.
Some pari-mutuel gambling, including horse racing and cardrooms licensed by the state. Jai alai was added to the Hard Rock Bet app this year as part of the Seminole Tribes’ agreement.
Casino gambling on lands belonging to the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida.
State-run lotteries and interstate games such as the Powerball and Mega Millions.
Bingo, raffles and drawings of chance if run by a “charitable, nonprofit, or veterans’ organization.”
Small social games.

Can I bet on sports among friends in Florida?

Not legally. It is a second-degree misdemeanor to bet on “any trial or contest of skill, speed or power or endurance of human or beast.” It’s even worse to be the person taking the bets, which is a third-degree felony.

There’s some argument over where offshore betting websites fall here, but Florida bans all betting on sports.

Except, for some reason, bowling. Bowling tournaments are exempted from this and are perfectly welcome.

Playing cards and other penny-ante games, defined as “a game or series of games of poker, pinochle, bridge, rummy, canasta, hearts, dominoes, or mah-jongg in which the winnings of any player in a single round, hand, or game do not exceed $10 in value” are allowed.