Following the recent re-legalization of sports betting in Florida, the CEO of the Seminole Tribe, Jim Allen, hopes to bring iGaming to the state for the first time.
Although online casinos remain restricted for now, it’s still possible for Floridians to partake in iGaming. There are many offshore options to choose from – Vlad Grindu has picked out and ranked options of the best sites that are licensed outside the US. They’re often considered the best online casinos available in Florida, as these sites provide players with live dealers, free spins, and fast withdrawals, amongst many other benefits.
However, it is currently illegal for Florida-based gaming companies to set up and maintain online casino facilities. However, Allen has expressed interest in starting iGaming in Florida as soon as the legality of his company’s sports betting model is confirmed.
Sports betting was put on hold in the Sunshine State in 2021. However, Allen, who is also the chairman of Hard Rock International, reached an agreement with Gov. Ron DeSantis last year. This agreement brought back sports wagering in December.
The implementation of sports betting has already been lucrative for the state. Florida’s share of the revenue from sports betting is set to reach $4.4 billion by the end of the decade, based on the predictions of economic forecasters.
Now, with the sports betting infrastructure in place, Allen believes it’ll be easy to set up iGaming in Florida.
In fact, the legalization of online casinos was part of a compact between the Seminole Tribe and Gov. DeSantis back in 2021. However, there was opposition to this section of the agreement, particularly from then-house speaker Chris Sprowls. In response to this, the iGaming section was removed from the compact.
Now, Sprowls is no longer part of the Florida legislature. With some of the opposition gone and Seminole’s successful reimplementation of online casinos, Allen now believes that the compact with DeSantis can be amended to include online casinos without being blocked by opposition.
However, Sprowls isn’t the only member of the Florida legislature that has left in the meantime. Many of the current officials are newly elected.
This means that Allen and the Seminole Tribe need to convince the new officials to approve of iGaming. Allen has stated that he believes he can do this by showing each new official how easy it is to sign up for an illegal iGaming site.
The Seminole Tribe already has an online casino app ready to present to officials as a prototype. Hard Rock Bet also operates in New Jersey, where both online sports betting and casinos are legal. According to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, New Jersey’s casino and sports betting revenues hit a record high of $5.8 billion in 2023.
Hard Rock Bet’s New Jersey app offers both iGaming and sports wagering. Allen hopes that highlighting how they’ve integrated the two forms of online gambling in NJ will help his company’s case for Florida.
Given that the legislative session has already concluded in Florida for 2024, it’s difficult to say when progress toward the introduction of online casinos can be made.
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