New legislation in Florida suggests harsher consequences for unlicensed online casino gaming and sports betting. The new penalties would apply not only to the people or companies running unauthorized gambling sites but to individual gamblers using them as well.
The bills emphasize that the only legal online gambling in Florida takes place under the auspices of the gaming compact between the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the state. If Florida enacts the proposals, the reinforcement of tribal exclusivity could serve to pave the way for the future expansion of the Seminole compact to include iGaming.
Florida bills codify penalties for unlicensed online gambling
The companion bills in the Florida legislature are HB 953 and SB 1404. HB 953 is currently under consideration in the House’s Industries & Professional Activities Subcommittee while SB 1404 is currently pending assignment.
The proposal makes operating or promoting “Internet gambling or Internet sports wagering” a third-degree felony. In Florida, a conviction on such a charge carries a possible sentence of as much as five years in prison and/or fines up to $5,000.
HB 953 and SB 1404 contain a clause that exempts online gambling that takes place in accordance with the compact with the Seminole Tribe from those penalties. That goes for people playing the games as much as people offering the games.
Penalties would apply to players, too
The proposal would make playing or engaging “in Internet gambling, any game at cards, keno, roulette, faro, or other game of chance, at any place, by any device whatever, for money or other thing of value” a second-degree misdemeanor. Additionally, it would establish graduated penalties for betting on sports online.
A first violation would incur second-degree misdemeanor charges while subsequent convictions would be first-degree misdemeanors. Second-degree misdemeanors carry potential consequences of up to 60 days in a jail and/or a fine up to $500.
First-degree misdemeanors can mean as much as a year in jail and/or a fine up to $1,000. Again, gambling online using approved means that Seminole Tribe offers would not be violations.
In Florida, the Seminole Tribe offers its Hard Rock Bet app and website for sports wagering only at this time. The enactment of HB 953 or SB 1404 could set the stage for more offerings in that context.
Bills could act as precursor to new compact amendment
The Seminole Tribe of Florida has already been eyeing expanding their state-sanctioned monopoly over online gambling in Florida to include iGaming. In May 2024, Seminole Gaming CEO Jim Allen expressed that the Tribe would like to engage in conversations with the state on that subject.
That process would involve negotiations between leaders of the Seminole Tribe and Florida’s governor to add an amendment to the existing compact. That amendment would have to be approved by the Florida legislature and the United States Dept. of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Even without the statutory penalties that HB 953 and SB 1404 recommend, gambling regulators in Florida have been active in trying to stymie online gambling outside of the Seminoles’ control. In February, the Florida Gaming Control Commission sent cease-and-desist demands to the operators of three online casinos allegedly taking bets from people in Florida.
HB 953 and SB 1404 would give law enforcement in Florida more power to prosecute such gambling. In turn, that could make the Seminole Tribe more likely to try to begin negotiations that could bring Hard Rock Bet’s iGaming platform to players in the state.
