An effort to get legalized sports gambling on the ballot in Florida this year has failed. In order to make it onto the ballot, a petition needed to gather the signatures of nearly 900,000 Floridians that wanted to see gambling legalized. The drive fell well short, gathering a little over half the necessary number.
Sports gambling had been legal in the state in a somewhat monopolistic way, as the Seminole Indian Tribe reached an agreement, known as the Seminole Pact, with the governor’s office to control all sports betting in the state. That deal was struck down by a federal court in November.
DraftKings and FanDuel contributed a combined $37 million to the campaign for signatures. With that strategy failing, sports betting cannot return to the statewide ballot until 2024.
That doesn’t necessarily mean Floridians will have to wait that long to bet. There are three possibilities at this point to move gambling forward. The federal judge’s ruling on the Seminole Pact could be overturned, The Seminole Tribe could renegotiate its deal with the governor’s office in a way that allows for some competition, or the state legislature could decide to revisit the issue before March 11.
Each of those potential actions is very unlikely to come to fruition, leaving sports bettors in Florida to either turn to offshore books or simply be patient.
