Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Agrees to New Gaming Compact With Sports Betting

It was announced today that the Governor’s office and the Seminole Tribe have finally come to an agreement on an expanded Gaming Compact for the state. Currently, the Seminole Tribe runs all gaming in the State of Florida, and any expansions need to go through them. With Florida’s government wanting sports betting, one of the first big things to get done was a new compact with the tribe that included sports betting.

Well, the deal is done, and there was a lot given up to the Seminole Tribe in order to get them to agree to mobile sports betting. However, there still needs to be legislation and maybe a state-wide vote in order to approve this new gaming compact.

New Compact Deal

There have been rumors sprinkling out about the details of the new compact, but we finally have some concrete details as the Seminole Tribe and Governor’s office have come to a final agreement. The first major impact is what the Florida Government was after the entire time, legal online sports betting. However, this is not exactly the large-scale and expansive sports betting that bettors or many in Congress were hoping for.

According to the agreement, there will only be two online sports betting skins, and the Seminole Tribe owns both. One will likely be used on the Hard Rock Online Sportsbook, while the other could be up for bidding from outside sportsbooks. There will also be sports betting allowed at casinos and sports stadiums under this agreement.

The agreement also includes massive expansions for the Seminole Tribe’s casino industry. First of all, it will now be allowed craps and roulette at all of its casinos. The Seminole Tribe will also be allowed to add more gaming facilities such as casinos, card rooms, etc.

The deal is currently slated to be for 30-years and comes with a price increase for what the Seminole Tribe will need to pay to have a gaming monopoly.

Sports Betting Not a Guarantee

There are still many things standing in the way of this new gaming compact being put into action. First of all, there needs to be legislation that approves everything that is stated in the agreement. Unless there is a vote by the end of May, it is unlikely that this expansion happens in 2021. It should be noted that many officials that were on the fence about sports betting wanted a much more expansive agreement that did not limit sports betting to a complete Seminole Tribe monopoly.

There is also the voting side of this expansion. Under one of Florida’s newest amendments, the public gets to vote on all gaming expansion. How Congress, the Seminole Tribe, and the Governor’s office will try and argue that adding new facilities, craps, roulette, and sports betting does not constitute a gaming expansion will be interesting. Many legal experts expect that a vote will be needed, or there will be heavy legal backlash.

Sports betting is not a guarantee for 2021 or even ever with this new compact. Florida will have a very interesting next couple of weeks as it tries to get a vote together and approve this new compact.